In July last year, these very pages carried a brief interview with an emerging artist who goes by the name of Harriet Cohen. Then, she had just released her debut single India, a remarkable song that not only went down well locally, but also set the ball rolling for her musical pursuits.
Just over a year later, Cohen (whose real name is Deborah Borg Brincat, vocalist with local indie band Bletchley Park) is back, not with a new release, but with exciting news that should open up new opportunities for her music to flourish.
Although she has yet to release a follow-up single to India, Cohen says it has been a busy 12 months nonetheless. “Much of the time was spent working with producer Niki Gravino at Foreface Studios,” she explains. “We’ve been working on some tracks with the aim of putting out an EP later on, but I’ve also been very busy performing live around Malta and Gozo.”
Beyond home turf, last month Cohen also played in Prague, where she gave three performances at this year’s YMCA Europe Festival, an event attended by more than 5,000 participants from 60 different countries.
“Performing to such a diverse crowd was quite an experience,” she recounted. “The audience was very appreciative, and I really felt inspired by the comments when some of them came round to have a word after the performances.”
Further to her live gigs and her recording works-in-progress, the latest news is that Cohen will be moving to London to further her studies, reading for a Masters in Popular Music Performance at the University of West London and Tech Music School. So how will this impact her role in Bletchley Park, who incidentally have also just released The Orphan’s Wing as a radio single off their acclaimed My Body Fighting album?
“Well, apart from studying, I will definitely be looking to further my Harriet Cohen project over there,” she confirms, adding that “Bletchley Park is an important part of the career I’m looking to pursue and I’m pleased the band was so understanding and supportive of my decision. Naturally, since I’ll be coming back to finish and launch the EP, I’m sure we’ll manage to put on the occasional gig too.”
Harriet Cohen will be playing a farewell gig at Coach & Horses in Msida on Friday.
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