Jonathan Markwell

— Hannah Robinson is bringing a touch of the East to the Live and Unsigned competition, a contest for unsigned artists to showcase their talent, with her unique brand of acoustic pop. The 22 year-old Lincoln singer and guitarist made it through the first round of the competition and told The Lincolnite about how she is preparing for the final.

Music has always been a big piece of Hannah’s life. She’s been on stage performing since a young age and her dad was also a singer-songwriter.

“It’s always been a part of me. I was adamant to learn the guitar because I think it’s the perfect instrument to accompany yourself,” she said.

Having built on her talents by writing songs and performing in venues familiar to most musicians in the city, Hannah now prefers a different kind of audience.

“I played Kind, L4 and bars like that, but I love busking most. It can be daunting, but I feel much closer to the audience that way, and because people aren’t expecting to see you there you get genuine reactions.”

Hannah’s confidence as a performer comes from playing original material and covers amongst Lincoln’s High Street shoppers, and she’s now preparing for the next round of the Live and Unsigned competition on March 25 in Sheffield.

“I’m trying to reassess my image and write a new song to give something different this time around,” she added.

Her secret weapon for the event stems from her love of all things Japanese. “I started reading manga comics years ago and learnt Japanese so I could pronounce the names properly.”

Ever since, the influence from the land of the rising sun has made its way into Hannah’s original music, and even finds her adding a twist to favourite busking covers by translating them.

“I love Japanese pop and rock, and the sound of the words really suits my singing voice. I’m also going to incorporate that style into my outfit for the evening, because visuals are an important part of a show too.”

With this unexpected inspiration, alongside a soulful and natural singing voice, Hannah should be on course to wow the judges later this month.

Listen to Hannah’s cover of Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars:

After two local acts pooled their talents to create a chart-scraping summer anthem last year, it seemed only inevitable they’d be back together to repeat the success.

Elliott Morris’ and Dancing Lotus’ first joint single gained them recognition far beyond the boundaries of the county, and new effort Kings of Men, available from March 5 on iTunes, looks set to launch them further into the national limelight.

Elliott Morris talks about the new single and his extended collaboration with Dancing Lotus, but before that, here’s a teaser for Kings of Men.

Local musicians come together

Last April Elliott Morris and the Dancing Lotus boys Jack Shaw, Lanre, Kamil Kappa, Luke Billing, Nick Long and Carl Woodwiss, collaborated to produce two singles; Spend Some Time and Silver and Blue.

Sounding respectively like a drunken summer BBQ and the hangover the following day, they did much to boost the profile of both acts.

The first of the pair reached the top 10 of the iTunes singer-songwriter chart, finding acclaim not just from local fans but also new, national listeners with its irrepressibly sunny hooks and acoustic stylings.

Elliott said: “None of us really intended Spend Some Time to do that, we were just bridging the gap between winter and summer gigs. It was only when it started going up the iTunes chart we started to push it and let people know what we were doing.”

Biffy Clyro meets Calvin Harris in new single

The new single from these combined forces is a definite move away from the folky sound of its predecessors. Pitching it as “a mixture between Biffy Clyro and Calvin Harris”, it’s more focussed on Jack Shaw’s group’s stage sound.

“We’ve done that acoustic sound now, so this track is very heavy in comparison. The verses are clubby and dance-y while the choruses are more rock. There’s trumpets and strings in there too. It’s really different.”

The collaboration singles are only the start of the affair between these two however, as Elliott is now fully joining the group for their album recording and following tour, having filled in for now-absent guitarist Joe Mac over the summer.

Elliott jumped at the chance to be a part of one of his favourite bands: “When I started out playing on the Lincoln music scene in 2008 they were like local celebrities. I became friends with them and over the next few years we did a lot of shows together.”

Since those early days, Elliott has barely paused for breath between bringing his beat-driven folk-pop to venues all over the county, leading to a schedule that makes some high-profile acts look lazy.

We asked him whether he was worried that this new union with Dancing Lotus would leave him less time to focus on his solo work which he’s built up.

He said: “The bottom line is the guys know my solo stuff needs to take precedent so I can afford to even be in the band, but I don’t see it ever causing a problem with our schedules.”

More gig dates abound for a man already described as omnipresent in Lincoln’s music scene. But as Elliott says himself: “What do you say when you’re asked to join one of your favourite bands?”