Gemma Williams
musician
—Résumé—
‘Fucking superb’ -Everett True / Collapse Board (Song of the Day 485)
‘A stunning find.’ - SUNDAY TIMES
‘Musically and emotionally, it’s belting’ -BBC MUSIC
‘A homicidal Disney heroine, singing songs of violence and desire’
-THE GUARDIAN (New Band of The Day, 06/09/12)
‘Enchanting solo masterpieces’ - THE INDEPENDENT
‘A seven-song delight’ -CLASH MUSIC
‘Utterly gorgeous’ -GOD IS IN THE TV ZINE
‘Strange, elusive, and haunting’ – theirbatedbreath.
Gemma Williams is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and performer. Her solo project Woodpecker Wooliams, active between 2009 and 2013 and consisting of voice, harp, analogue synths and 'noise' received critical acclaim with her album called The Bird School of Being Human, co-produced with Marcus Hamblett (Laura Marling, Peggy Sue, James Holden, Bear’s Den…) As Woodpecker Wooliams, Gemma has performed live on many independent and BBC radio sessions as Woodpecker Wooliams, Becky Becky or guesting with Rag‘N’Bone Man, as well as having her recorded music played on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction show, by Rob da Bank on BBC Radio 1, and BBC Radio 6 Music programmes including Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone and BBC Music Introducing.
She performed at the Yoko Ono-curated Meltdown festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and has toured numerous headline tours around Germany, Denmark, Italy, Russia and The Baltics as well as supporting acts like My Brightest Diamond at Kings Place, and as part of the London-based ‘Soundtracks’ festival, with an extract of her music played on the BBC news. Gemma has been called on to collaborate with other musicians, including to lend featured guest vocals to Ghostpoet’s "Meltdown" single (which was synced to an episode of an The Only Way is Essex episode) , to play harp on the track "Fire" for the Emanative album The Light Years Of The Darkness, released through Giles Peterson's The Steve Reid Foundation and joining Rag'N'Bone Man for guest vocals on Button Eyes' single "Simple Days". She continues to write and record with Becky Becky, a literary synth-pop duo whose debut album was described as “a gripping voyage in the dark” (Uncut Magazine), ‘edgy and deeply affecting’ (Clash Music) and ‘one of the most utterly, unmissably compelling albums that I’ve heard. Not ‘that I’ve heard in months’, simply ‘that I’ve heard’’ (God Is In The TV Zine).
Gemma has worked on scoring soundtracks for documentary films. In 2009 she collaborated with Berlin-based artist Conrad Clipper on the score for a short film named ‘Anni’. More recently she has been commissioned to write and record the soundtracks for British Council-funded documentary ‘The Voice of The Unicorn’ (2019), ‘The Disordered Eye’ (first aired on BBC 4 in November 2020) and for a forthcoming documentary ‘Targeted: The Truth about Disability Hate Crime’ (first aired on BBC 2 in January, 2021).
Discography
Albums
Woodpecker Wooliams
The Bird School of Being Human (Robot Elephant Records, 2012) – CD and vinyl
Diving Down (Autumn Ferment, 2009) – CD
Becky Becky
MARACA (2021) - watch this space!
Good Morning Midnight (FEINT, 2014) - CD
Singles
Woodpecker Wooliams
Crow (Robot Elephant Records, 2014) - CD and digital
Gull (Robot Elephant, 2012) - CD and digital
Sparrow (Robot Elephant, 2012) - digital
Becky Becky
The House of the Black Madonna (FEINT, 2015)
Fire and Wings (FEINT, 2014)
The Harder Stuff (FEINT, 2011)
EPs
Woodpecker Wooliams
Patryoska (Full of Nothing, Russia, 2012) – cassette re-release
Patryoska (The Woolshop Productions, Italy, 2011) – CD-R, cassette
Sleeping Under Dark Suns (My Dance The Skull, London, 2010) – cassette
Fledgling (A Beard of Snails, Denamark, 2009) - CD-R
Mill And Moss (Limited edition handmade CD-R)2007
Becky Becky
Champagne on Christmas Day (FEINT), 2014
Original Film Soundtracks
Woodpecker Wooliams
Anni (Love Lion, Chicago, 2012) – collaboration with OCDC, a score to the German film Anni
Gemma Williams
Targeted: The Truth About Disability Hate Crime (BBC 2 TV), 2021
The Voice of the Unicorn (The British Council), 2020 - with Patrick Knill
Live albums
Woodpecker Wooliams
Woodpecker Wooliams and Golden Cup meet Love Cult – In Russia (Full of Nothing, Russia 2012) - cassette
Woodpecker Wooliams Live at BBC6 Music - digital self release
Becky Becky
Art School Dancing (live radio session- FEINT, 2014)
Compilation album appearances
Woodpecker Wooliams
Home Taping is Music 4 (Woodland Recordings, 2020)
Wash the Sins Not Only the Face (Remixes)- (Esben and the Witch, Matador, 2013)
Willkommen Foxswap (Willkommen Collective, 2011)
Home Taping is Music 2 (Woodland Recordings, 2011)
Expulsion Into Offering #4 (A Beard Of Snails, 2010) – Expulsion Into Offering Tape Series cassette album, includes
Stranger Songs II (Stranger Songs, 2010)