Beth Roberts is a songwriter, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer from Bristol, UK. Her voice carries elements of folksong honesty and choral clarity as she weaves melodic lines over intricate fingerpicked banjo and guitar. There’s a hypnotic intimacy in her performance that invites audiences to commune with the quieter parts of themselves, drawn in by her ever-shifting harmonic patterns. As a solo performer, she has supported a varied spectrum of artists including Rachel Sermanni, Fran & Flora, The Magic Lantern, Martha Tilston, Solana and Haiku Salut, and she’s currently preparing to record her debut solo album.
Since 2017, she has been writing and performing with dreamfolk trio Hands of the Heron, known for their mesmerising vocal harmonies and reverberant songwriting. She is also half of poetry/soundscape duo House of Figs, creating an otherworldly choir with voice and electronics around Beth Calverley’s tenderly powerful poetry and exploring collaborative improvisations. They debuted their co-written theatre piece The Awkward Guide to Friendship in November 2023 and are continuing development on the new draft of that, with shows lined up for 2024.
She plays violin and double bass in Hedera, a newly-formed instrumental quintet playing music from various European folk traditions, who sold out their debut UK tour in January 2024. She’s a member of ascendant vocal & percussion ensemble Tryani Collective, and has toured in Germany and the UK with fellow sonic experimentalists Ben Osborn and Malo Moray as Trialogue. She has collaborated on stage and in the studio with notable emerging artists Emily Isherwood, Waldo’s Gift, Amy Yon, Holyseuss Fly, Rowan Elliott and Ishmael Ensemble.
She co-founded Cuculi Records in 2020 with Heron bandmate Bec Garthwaite, and has subsequently produced and released collections by songwriters Claire Vine, Bea Piper and Anna Anise. She curates Cuculi Presents, a popular ongoing series of intimate gigs in listening spaces around East Bristol featuring artists from the label, as well as upcoming acts from around the UK.
She teaches singing and music theory, and has led workshops encouraging adults to overcome vocal inhibitions and find a more effortless way of singing. She occasionally writes about music in a space called Burnout Musicology.
Cuculi Records 