News: Liz Corney – Babe

North-East music maker Liz Corney has just dropped a rather lovely video to her latest single, Babe. The track is taken from the debut solo album We Need New Eyes, which was released last October on the Butterfly Effect label and was co-produced with David Brewis of Field Music and features the string quartet Crude Tarmac. Liz’s captivating keys and melody-rich vocal, (with notes of artists such as Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, and Aimee Mann) combine with elevating string arrangements, grand vocal harmonies and a vibrant, attention-grabbing rhythmic finale to create a track that melts away the Monday-fuelled melancholy. 

Here, Liz, who is perfoming at Durham Brass’ Brassed-On event at The Gala Theatre on 19th July, tells us more about the ballroom dance-filled visual accompaniment filmed by Adam Opie…

“This song is like a wee snapshot of a moment in time, a room with two people in it that are  together in a small space but quite far apart in relation to each other. And about how they’d  like to find their way back. It’s about communication and how hard it can be to say and talk  about difficult things. My references were the The Commodores Easy’, Bennie and the Jets for that really lazy, almost behind-the-beat feel, but mainly Bob Seeger’s huge ballad  We’ve Got Tonight. So I used that as a guide, writing a string quartet part, and trying to be as concise as possible with the lyrics. It’s become such a favourite to play, as it’s really  dynamic and despite the subject feels determinedly uplifting. I love songs that have that  contrast. 

“I took up ballroom dancing in the autumn of 2023; trying to find some exercise I enjoyed.  Turns out I loved it so much I decided to make a music video for Babe featuring ballroom  dancing. I was fortunate to meet these fabulous people who have helped me no end:  Christopher Hill, my brilliant dance partner, Caroline Banks, my willing and encouraging  teacher, Pat Henzell (a participant in my dance class) who lent me the beautiful feather  trimmed dress of dreams (surely the real star of the show) and the film maker, steadicam  operator extraodinaire Adam Opie. It’s been an odd pursuit from starting a dance class to  to making this, but here we are!”