It was in the heat of Summer 2005, 5 years after being awarded her prestigious award that Biel released her debut album Not Alone, and now with her UK tour successfully underway, we find out from the musician herself who Julia Biel is.

Julia’s voice in ‘Shhh…’ is beautifully woven into the music, especially the flute. It culminates in a heart-breaking, unforgettable piece of artistry

By her own admission, Julia’s passion for music was not the result of a musical upbringing, “It wasn’t encouraged by my family, so it was always something that until my early twenties I was actively trying to suppress. But it was a need I had, I had to express myself and that’s what drove me… I was introduced to people like Billie Holiday, Sarah Sanders and music where I went, ‘wow, what is this?’.”

As a member of F-IRE, a collective of forward-thinking musicians, Julia’s voice formed into an eclectic sound, so beautifully controlled and executed that the listener can’t help but connect with her emotion.

She attributes much of her unique sound to her close working relationship with co-writer on Not Alone and band guitarist Johnny Phillips, “When I met Johnny, he introduced me to the Latin side of things and I got into a whole load of people like Caetano Veloso, Astrid Gilberto as well as Nina Simone at that point.”

Even those who are already familiar with Biel’s music have struggled to define her sound. Aspects of jazz, soul, folk, Latin beats and even an undertone of pop has melded into a style that Julia Beale has truly made her own. “As it’s a collaboration with Johnny, it is a sum of our collective influences, we worked together for a number of years developing the sound and making it what it is. I would say that the sound is very acoustic, delicate in that respect.”

Listen to it if you want to bring yourself back to a trueness and a stillness and to connect on a personal level with an artist

Not Alone received critical acclaim, being described as, “spine-chillingly beautiful” (The Independent) and confirming the album as a treat to all that heard it, “People who are used to listening to jazz will appreciate the skill and artistry but you don’t need to know about jazz to enjoy it.” (The Observer).

Combined with a variety of instruments, played by some of the most respected musicians in London; including Idris Rahman (flute, clarinet) Ben Davis (Cello) Jasper Holby (double bass) and drummer Seb Rochford (from the Mercury Prize nominated act Polar Bear), the music flows over you like a hypnotic summer breeze.

The soul and essence of the entire album can be found within one track, ‘Where is She Now?’ The song’s use of piano, percussion and acoustic bass, supported by Julia’s melancholy vocal, not only acts as a virtuoso example of the her skils but also conveys the beauty and genius that runs through the entirety of the LP.

Julia’s voice in ‘Shhh…’ is beautifully woven into the music, especially the flute. It culminates in a heart-breaking, unforgettable piece of artistry, which alone would make the album worth buying.

There is a stripped down honesty in her music, “Listen to it if you want to bring yourself back to a trueness and a stillness and to connect on a personal level with an artist because, hopefully, I’ve achieved a very intimate feeling with the songs.”

Riding on the crest of the success of her debut album, Julia’s tour is picking up the same momentum. The tour involves a manic seventeen-night schedule with performances from Leeds to London. Julia describes the experience of the tour with the same modesty in her voice that you can hear in her ‘straight from the heart’ lyrics, “It’s beautiful, it’s really really lovely to be on this tour because we’ve all worked so hard to make it a reality, everything takes a lot of time and patience and to have reached that point where we’re taking the music out there to people, it’s really what it’s all about and it feels fantastic, I love it!”

For those of you who have had Not Alone spinning on repeat and are aching for more, the wait for new material may soon be over, “I have another album worth of songs ready — well not ready but written. The next album is not going to be a collaboration, I don’t know when it will be ready, but the journey has begun.”

If that is still not enough to curb your musical cravings, Julia Biel’s UK tour runs till the 20th May (see below).

• Tues 02 May 06 The Stables, Milton Keynes 01908 280800 www.stables.org
• Mon 08 May 06 Islington Bar Academy, London 0870 771 2000 www.islington-academy.co.uk
• Mon 15 May 06 Islington Bar Academy, London 0870 771 2000 www.islington-academy.co.uk
• Thurs 18 May 06 Exeter Phoenix, Devon 01392 667080 www.exeterphoenix.org.uk
• Sat 20 May 06 The Anvil, Basingstoke 01256 844244 www.theanvil.org.uk