Simon first picked up the guitar aged 11, after attending his first rock concert and being inspired by Buck Dharma. After several years of playing in various rock and metal bands as a teenager, Simon rediscovered folk music through a childhood love of Show of Hands, and began experimenting more with acoustic songwriting alongside childhood friend Laurence Crow (Wolfe Sunday). The duo played occasionally together, before Simon moved to Reading and decided to pick up the mandolin as well aged 19.
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He formed Loreley alongside Maddy Glenn in 2014, and around the same time began arranging traditional folk songs and composing new music to them as well. Outside of Loreley, Simon also teaches guitar and mandolin, as well as arranging and composing. He also works as a session musician, and still occasionally collaborates live with Wolfe Sunday, as well as other musicians.
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Simon is currently studying for a Masters Degree in Ethnomusicology at Sheffield University. On top of guitar and mandolin, he also sings and plays dulcitar, as well as having some fledgling skills on piano, concertina, banjo, and Venezuelan cuatro.
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What I’m currently listening to:
Mawkin, Faustus, Show of Hands, Gogol Bordello, Billy Talent, Pain of Salvation, Rammstein, Emily Portman, Bellowhead, Kings of the South Seas.
Simon James Chisholm
