A master collaborator, songwriter, cellist and artist in her own right, Beth Porter of Marshes is well established in the music world. The songs When The Lights Are Bright are dark, quirky, charming and ethereal Chamber-Pop, and depict themes such as fear, confusion, money, the weather and the odd cheesy love song, all carried by Beth’s pure and unaffected voice. Marshes have been likened to Cat Power The Beatles REM ThisIsTheKit Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Radiohead, The Incredible String Band and The Kinks. Picked for her songwriting and cello playing, she is one part of The Lost Words: Spell Songs (a project inspired by the book Lost Words by Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane) with legends of folk Karine Polwart Kris Drever Rachel Newton Seckou Keita Jim Molyneux and Julie Fowlis. Beth has played with Eliza Carthy Bellowhead Jim Moray Peter Gabriel The Unthanks Newton Faulkner as well as many other artists. She is also one half of literary duo The Bookshop Band who spend much of their time writing songs inspired by books and playing them in bookshops across the UK, Europe and the States. She has featured on soundtracks such as Far from the Madding Crowd (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) The name Marshes was inspired by moving to Dumfries and Galloway where she is a walk away from a protected salt marsh.