On being Harriet Cohen

If the voice on Harriet Cohen’s recent debut single India sounds vaguely familiar, but you’re not quite sure where, you may want to seek out Bletchley Park’s music.

Cohen is, in fact, the alter ego of the band’s vocalist Deborah Borg Brincat, and there is a reason behind the alias.

To start with, the music is different, as is her vocal delivery and, of course, the mood of the song – a delicate piece crafted with a hint of jazz and a classical tint that flies in the face of the conventional pop song while still packing a melodic punch that lingers on in the mind long after the song is over.

What was it that lured Borg Brincat to venture beyond the post-punk roots found in her work with Bletchley Park?

“I’ve actually been experimenting with music from a very young age,” she replies. Like most artists she is constantly seeking to be unique. “I try not to follow the norm – to be different,” she continues.

And while the band was busy working on debut album My Body Fighting, which was releas­ed last week, Borg Brincat also found the time to roll out her solo project, which she says “all re­sulted from an experiment to test the waters really, but the feedback I got was overwhelming, which motivated me to go ahead with it.”

But where did the name Harriet Cohen come from?

“Harriet Cohen was a popular 20th-century British pianist who had quite an inspirational life,” Borg Brincat explains. “She used her music to reach out to different people, despite the difficult political situation that was developing around her.”

Cohen’s music inspired many im­portant people of her time – from HG Wells and Edward Elgar to DH Lawrence and Albert Einstein, who actually accompanied her on violin for a fundraising concert to help Jewish scientists escape Nazi Germany. It was, in fact, Cohen’s life and music that prompted Borg Brincat to adopt her name for her own inspirational music.

Produced and recorded at Railway Studios, the single explores the theme of animal cruelty, with particular focus on the hardships circus animals all around the world face. An accompanying video, filmed and produced by Matthew James Borg, was also released, clocking over 20,000 views in its first week with that figure steadily rising. Borg Brincat is currently planning to take this project a step further by preparing a live set.

www.facebook.com/harrietcohenlive.