Bio

Fathom is the brainchild of Nancy Howie, singer-songwriter, musician and maker. Hailing from Auckland by way of a nomadic nautical childhood, her latest project is a sprawling bedroom-folk experiment featuring DIY instruments and home-recorded music which tests the limits of lockdown-borne creativity.

Nancy has written and performed with her folk trio Tweed for almost a decade, playing in Auckland Folk Festival, on Radio New Zealand’s NZ Live programme, and for theatrical presentations in which they were commissioned to write the music. However, NZ’s first COVID lockdown forced the band to take a break from performance. Stranded at home, Nancy discovered a passion for inventing and building experimental instruments, beginning with a fencepost-based creation resembling a cello, and expanding to balloon-saxophones, unusual percussion instruments, and an improvised hurdy gurdy.

Her upcoming release The World to Breathe is the end result of a year of DIY instrument building combined with a collection of songs which explore themes of anxiety, self-discovery and unfamiliarity of life under COVID-19. The album was recorded at home during the lockdown, and features instruments handmade in her basement. Her music incorporates influences of ‘70s folk-rock, jazz, and indie, but the sound of homemade instrumentation is uniquely her own.

Over the course of 2021, the Fathom project was brought to exhibition venues around New Zealand, as part of a fundraising effort to have her home-recorded album professionally mixed and mastered for release. Nancy also ran a successful Givealittle campaign, which reached 50% of its goal in the first week.

The World to Breathe is set for release in January 2022, with its lead single, “Mother Star” coming out in late November.

Band Members:
Nancy Howie (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, piano, percussion, homemade instruments)

Links

• Youtube Page
• Instagram Page
• Bandcamp Page