Spotlight: Zoë Bestel
We are thrilled to be hosting the Galloway launch of Zoë Bestel’s new single, ‘Utopia’, this December. Hailed as “one of Scotland’s most fascinating young singer-songwriters”, the award-winning nu-folk musician will fill the CatStrand with her ethereal vocals, poignant melodies, and stirring lyrics.
‘Utopia’ emerged, Bestel says, from feeling lost during lockdown without a garden in a top floor flat of a Glasgow tenement, and yearning for her grassroots in Dumfries and Galloway. She began research into sustainable agriculture, permaculture and traditional methods of stewarding land as a response to climate anxiety.
“I feel deeply that important issues are emboldened when entwined and understood with art, so my intention was to write a blueprint of hope for a world anxiously affected by climate breakdown, and ecological destruction. I believe nature has tools to heal and we have the intelligence to pay attention, therefore immense opportunities, with the ability to change, not just to avoid catastrophe, but to flourish harmoniously within the natural ecosystem. For the sake of everyone and everything.”
With plans to self-release a third album through crowdfunding, Bestel is enthusiastic to share her new writing which she claims is more self-reflective than previous work. “The past four years have been a journey of discovery to unearth who I am as a person, as with all people in their early twenties”. The album is set to explore themes of mental health, guilt surrounding heartbreak, and modern folk tales of the elusiveness of a creative spirit.
As well as numerous BBC radio and TV performances, Bestel has captivated audiences across Denmark, Germany, Finland, Norway, and the Czech Republic, with festival highlights including Orkney Folk Festival, Celtic Connections, and Cambridge Folk Festival. A single launch displaying new material will be announced for November in Glasgow. With upcoming work already garnering interest on the climate change world stage with invitations to performances during upcoming global events.
The gig will be taking place as a joint double headliner event with country musician Kate Kyle on the 3rd of December. Doors will be open from 7pm, with a special performance from Paragon M3 dancer, Eilidh McGrath, between each artist’s set.
Tickets for the event can be found here:
Find out more about Zoë and follow her work here: