Museums at Night: Indie folk at RAMM

Enjoy an evening of music at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum on Saturday 16 May when Indie folk band Stornoway will play material from their latest album supported by Nuala Honan & Kit Hawes and Cavermouth.

Part of Stornoway’s nationwide tour to celebrate the release of Bonxie, their eagerly anticipated third album, RAMM is an ideal venue. Songwriter Dr. Brian Briggs has sought inspiration for the new album from his previous life as an Ornithologist. ‘Bonxie’ is the nickname of a Hebridean sea bird, the Great Skua, and the album features the calls of 20 different species of bird. Sounds from Ebb & Flow: Seasonal sounds through the Devon Year, RAMM’s current wildlife sound installation at by Chris Watson, are included in their set for the tour.

Stornoway rose to national prominence in 2009 following a haunting performance on Later with Jools Holland. Following this, Stornoway became the first ever unsigned band to play Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage. The success continued with two top 40 albums and globe-trotting sell out shows.

Bonxie and their latest single, Get Low, were released on 13 April. The first single from the album was The Road You Didn’t Take and it won the 6 Music Rebel Playlist and the band headlined the folk stage at the 6 Music Festival in Newcastle in February. Whilst The Road showcased Stornoway’s more pastoral side, the band’s talent for tapping into the seam of golden pop has not abandoned them. Get Low is probably their most shining example of this since their debut.

Inspired by David Attenborough’s footage of imprinted Greylag geese flying low alongside the broadcaster and naturalist, the video for ‘Get Low’ features the same geese, this time flying alongside the band. There is something truly wonderful about the focus of the birds and the improbability of this interaction with humans. That sentiment is exactly what the song ‘Get Low’ is about and in a marvellously evocative lyric about fighting the odds (from his time as a conservationist on Chesil beach in Dorset), Briggs and Stornoway sing “You line up all the shoes you find washed up along the shingle. They never pair together only seem to end up single… Keep dreaming. Dream high. Some other time you’re going to Get Low”.

Bristol-based support band Nuala Honan & Kit Hawes play Americana and folk. With powerful vocals and virtuoso guitar they are mainstays of the festival scene.

Cavermouth, the blues trio led by singer Alex Forster, is fresh from their Hong Kong show warming up for Franz Ferdinand.

Presented by Cabaret Voltaire, doors open at 7pm, tickets cost £13: all standing with no age restriction. With a bar and the museum will open to enjoy, the evening will end at 10.30pm.