Ilaria Graziano & Francesco Forni + Ellie Dorman

Ilaria Graziano & Francesco Forni

Following last year’s release of their critically acclaimed debut album, From Bedlam to Lenane, the duo Ilaria Graziano & Francesco Forni return with a new album Come2Me, once again merging a multitude of influences and creating a unique blend of alternative folk and blues-tinged acoustic songs.

From To Bedlam Lenane was praised by Italian critics underlining Ilaria and Francesco’s extraordinary musicality. For "la Repubblica" the album was ‘one of the finest Italian albums in recent years ", and in the UK Songlines magazine described it as, ‘not only surprising but scintillating and stylish’. Neither of the musicians are newcomers to the music scene however. Ilaria has worked with the Japanese composer Yoko Anno on the soundtracks of the cult anime films "Ghost in the Shell" and "Cowboy Bebop"; she also sang a duet with Marianne Faithful for the soundtrack of another film "The Girl from Nagasaki". Francesco Forni meanwhile has been playing and composing for over ten years and is a theatre and film music composer. He penned the music for the film "Santos" by Roberto Saviano (of Gomorrah fame), and participated in the soundtrack of Oscar-winner Paolo Sorrentino’s film, "The Consequences of Love".

With the album Come2Me the duo continue their fruitful collaboration. The album is a fascinating journey that traverses the lands of Mexico and Texas via Route 66, mixing blues and folk with Argentinian tango and Neapolitan songs. All accompanied by the fluidity of two guitars which recalls the duo Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan or the American singer songwriter Alela Diane.

The songs forming the album focus on the sounds of the acoustic guitars, accompanied by ukulele and percussion; Ilaria and Francesco take turns singing, varying between English, Latin languages and creating captivating songs full of rhythms. Come 2 Me is a great album sparkling with talent and proving if necessary that simplicity can pay.

Ellie Dorman

Ellie Dorman is a Brockley based Songwriter who originally came to London to train as a musician. She then took a detour in her career and became a sound engineer, touring the world with bands and musicians, mixing their music live. 

She thoroughly enjoyed this but felt frustrated by not being able to fulfil her love of writing music. So after holding back on the touring she is now back in force after having released her debut EP 'October' on Nub records at the beginning of 2016. 

Musically she is inspired from a variety of different genres; from folk, classical, jazz, indie, reggae, blues to electronica and dance music. She combines these influences in innovative ways and story tells through her lyrics. 

Ellie is now working on the completion of her first full album. This album was written as a conceptual exercise to push the boundaries of her song writing. Having also just completed a course in sound design she has been surrounded by new ideas and concepts. This has invigorated her creativity and the new songs expand on these new learned ideas. They explore the use of different time signatures, tempo, keys, instrumentation, arrangement ideas and musical styles.