Smoke Fairies
'Simple Feeling' b/w 'I Wonder As I Wander' 7” single
Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club - SNOWFLAKE 1

Smoke Fairies' “Simple Feeling / I Wonder As I Wander” is one of four 7"'s released as part of the 2013 (and first) edition of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club. 

The first single in the series sees London folk/blues duo Smoke Fairies, joined on viola by Neil Walsh, sing about how celebrating Christmas with friends and loved ones makes one feel at home in their 'Simple Feeling'. It is a refined song with the vocal harmonies of Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies only supported by the subtle sounds of organ and viola. On the flip-side Smoke Fairies do a haunting and beautiful rendition of 'I Wonder As I Wander', a Christmas carol written by singer John Jacob Niles, based on some lines of a folk song he once heard a little girl sing in a small village in Appalachian North Carolina.

Smoke Fairies was formed by school friends Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies, originally from Chichester, East Sussex. After university, the two traveled to the USA where they lived in New Orleans for a year soaking up American blues music. When they returned to England, they discovered British folk music at the Sidmouth Folk Festival. But it was after spending another year abroad, this time in Vancouver, Canada, that they returned to London and started performing as the Smoke Fairies, combining the American blues and British folk traditions.
Smoke Fairies supported Bryan Ferry on his UK tour in 2007, released some limited edition singles in 2008-2009 (one of note recorded and released by Jack White on his Third Man Records label), did further touring with Richard Hawley in the UK and supporting Laura Marling on her USA tour all before the release of their debut album. “Through Low Light And Trees” was released in September 2010 - 'an exquisitely shivery blend of alternative folk-rock and a more humid, bluesy brand of Americana, that sounds both eerily ancient and thrillingly modern, with beautifully interlocking harmonies and guitar parts behind the spectral melodies', to quote the website of the band. Both this album and critically acclaimed follow-up 'Blood Speaks', were released in the UK and in the USA. The last two years, Smoke Fairies have toured extensively in the US, UK and Europe, released a RSD exclusive EP and most recently the CD 'Ghosts' which compiles their early singles. In October, they toured several English churches with US cello-rock band Rasputina and, ahead of their third album proper to be released early in the new year, they now close off the year by releasing this Christmas single.