Photo by Stephanie McCuick
Bristol-based talent Dryadic is led by the singer-songwriter Zora McDonald, who, joined by Aly Rainey on fiddle and George Pearson on double bass brings an energetic take on traditional folk music. Zora works as the founder Queer Voices Gloucestershire and co-founder of Hot Flush Events. Championing the LGBTQ+ community with their work, Dryadic has graced the stages of Glastonbury Avalon, Brighton Pride, and the Hackney Empire.
In a first love-song outing, Dryadic’s latest single ‘Smiling in the Dark’ is filled with energising happiness, pulling listeners up onto the stage for a danceable and uplifting earworm. Blends of leisurely bass lines, rising fiddle performances, bouncy drum beats and acoustic guitar to tie it all together create the perfect backdrop for a contemporary folk vocal. Layering vocalisations with raw and graceful performances. Cascading and shimmering, you can feel the music around you, the perfect amount of love-drenched to bring maximum joy.
Dryadic adds, “Smiling in the dark is the only love song I have released (it’s by no means the first I’ve written!). It’s about that moment when you’ve totally fallen for someone and you’re in bed going to sleep, but you’re so head-over-heels that you’re wide-awake grinning. And it feels like it must be so obvious that you wonder if your lover can literally hear you! I clearly remember the one such night, which inspired this song. I really love that it’s obviously a queer love song, sung by a woman to another woman, but this context is completely incidental.
I returned to Brighton Road Recording Studios to work with Jake Skinner, because I just love working with him. Jake is super relaxed, a really intuitive and insightful musician and engineer. After Jake engineered Dryadic’s previous EP No Time Like the Present with such magic, there was no other option really.
Although it’s romantic, it’s not mushy. Its grooving feel-good vibe will make you move and the big old hooks, I hope it will keep people humming and smiling long after the four minutes are up!”
Check out the new track here…
