Start Listening To: Rhiannon Hope

Rhiannon unveils the tender world of her debut EP All Things, Rising and Returning, a collection shaped by patience, collaboration and quiet self-discovery.

Written as a way to untangle emotions she couldn’t always name, Rhiannon’s debut EP captures the beauty in slowing down and letting songs take shape in their own time. From the intimacy of home recordings to the energy of her Leeds-based band, she reflects on the journey that turned private thoughts into something deeply communal.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make? 

Hi! My name is Rhiannon, I’m from Liverpool, now living in Leeds, and I write music for myself first and foremost. My writing is an outlet for all of my emotions, even ones I don’t fully comprehend, and also a peep hole into the inner workings of my head. I often write songs and lyrics and then don’t realise the meaning until I’ve sat with them for a few months. Secondly, I write music because it’s what I know best, and what I’ve always known and felt comfortable in. It’s cliché, but it is like a second language to me. 

Your debut EP All Things, Rising and Returning is arriving this September. What does the title mean to you personally

The title is paraphrased from a quote from the Tao Te Ching. I read this book last summer as a kind of last resort when I was feeling really paralysed with anxiety, to try and escape how I was feeling, to try to rationalise my emotions. I think, to me, all things rising and returning represents that things will always settle, despite what you might be feeling. I also associate it a lot with nature and passing of time through the change of the seasons; and through that I’m also comforted. I think it’s just about remembering that you are small and that is okay.

The lead single ‘B.B.’ is rooted in imposter syndrome and self-reassurance. Can you talk about how that song came together and why it felt like the right one to introduce the EP?

I wrote B.B. about how I was feeling when I first moved to Leeds. I won’t go into it, but it’s about feeling like a fish out of water and feeling jealous of those who seem to adapt easily. It really sums how I was feeling at the time and is one of my favourite songs I’ve written. B.B. was also one of the songs that was transformed the most when I brought it to the band. It sounds pretty empty and in my opinion lacklustre without the banjo, violin, and bass, and so with those additions it really transformed it sonically. It was also the first time Ludo, our usual drummer, played the banjo with the band, and I’m pretty sure performed with the instrument, so the song just felt like a great opportunity to showcase what we can all do in the band. I think it sums up our sound well. 

You cite Ella Fitzgerald and Aldous Harding as influences. How do you see their voices echoing through your own work?

This EP certainly leads towards the Aldous Harding side of the influence. I love Aldous Harding, I could talk about her forever, but I think the main thing she showed me is that I can do whatever I want because it’s my music. I can write whatever lyrics I like, even if they don’t make sense, I can wear what I want, I can carry whatever stage presence I like because it’s our show, I can write a song with super complex chords or one note. I love Aldous Harding because she is unapologetic and completely faithful to herself, even if it might not make sense to others, and through seeing her do that I can do it too. She lets me stay faithful to me. 

As for Ella Fitzgerald, I think she has the most perfect voice ever. I love her show-womanship and how she keeps the audience in safe hands; she seems like someone I would trust. I think her voice, and the Jazz genre generally is more present in our other songs, but I’d like to think I still carry some of Ella’s performance style. I hope the audience feels like they know me after one of our shows. 

Can you tell us how the EP was produced? 

The EP was produced by Evan J. Martin. I’m really the wrong person to ask if you want to get into the nitty-gritty technology side of things, but all I know is I wanted it to sound as natural as possible. We used minimal effects and a live recording setting to try and capture this and we couldn’t be happier with how Evan did it.

The EP was recorded live with your band. What did capturing that immediacy add to the songs?

I really didn’t want the songs to sound like they had been processed through a computer. Obviously, they have been to an extent, but I wanted it to resemble as faithfully as possible our live sound. I can’t really give a precise reason why, I just think it suits the music, and I think we sound best live anyway. I think it also adds character (mistakes and all) – we play the songs slightly differently every time, and so having the live recording is kind of a snapshot of one moment. In Indulge, there’s a moment of silence where if you listen closely, you can hear my bracelets jangling. I like that – it shows that we were there at one point in time, playing together. 

You embroidered the artwork for both the single and the EP. Why was it important for you to make the physical package such a tactile, hands-on process?

Again, I can’t really give a concrete answer – it just kind of fit the music I thought. I like it when you can tell something is handmade, when time and patience have gone into something. I feel that everything, media in particular, is becoming more and more ephemeral, quick, and easily consumed. I didn’t want it to be just churned out quickly for the sake of it, I wanted to do it slowly to make sure I knew exactly what I wanted. I’m actually a very impatient person, but I’m trying to slow down a bit and take time with things. I also liked the idea of keeping it quite insular – everything has been made with help from friends and people I know personally, and I made the cover at home while watching hours of Dr Who. The same goes for the music; I wrote the songs alone, then developed them with the band. Everything is a culmination of many lovely people, and I want that to be apparent in the cover. 

‘Toothpaste’ only appears as a live bonus track on the vinyl. What made you want to preserve that song in that specific way

Our drummer and banjoist, Ludo, had the idea of having a bonus track on the physical forms (Vinyl, CD) of the EP. I thought it was a nice idea since physical media, particularly vinyl, is really special to me. It’s so nice being able to hold and interact with the music physically, and I think that aspect also fits with the tactility of the cover art/ recording process etc. Also, on a personal level, a lot of my most cherished musical memories are made from my mum’s vinyl collection and so I wanted to become part of that tradition. We chose Toothpaste because we like it, and we had a nice recording of it from a Private Regcords Hangover Session. 

Growing up in Liverpool and then moving to Leeds, how have those two cities influenced your songwriting and sense of identity?

I think the main difference is playing alone versus with people. In Liverpool, I was only ever gigging by myself, which is nice, and got me over a lot of my initial hesitations about performing. Now that I’m in Leeds, a lot of my music making process is a collaborative effort; I’m now sharing my most personal thoughts and feelings with my band (who I love so so much), who help me to materialise those deepest feelings that I don’t even understand. That was the hardest thing to get used to. But it is also amazing – I’m so lucky to be surrounded by the most talented group. Opening up that very personal process has not only altered my attitude towards writing but also breathed new life into it. It’s now a mishmash of what we all want to do.  

You’ve supported Gal Go of King Krule and are now heading into your own run of headline shows. How are you feeling about stepping into that spotlight?

Excited? Nervous? It’s very big and I’m not sure how to compute it right now to be honest. I know it will be amazing, because we have worked very hard on this EP and it is the dream of every artist, but it also doesn’t feel quite real. Like Christmas or something. 

What do you love right now?

Sewing, films, finding new music, Bloody Marys, stretching, my haircut, patterned tights. 

What do you hate right now?

My phone, AI, that my cats don’t remember who I am when I go home. 

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

Forever Changes by Love. It’s one of my favourite albums from my 60s phase when I was 15, and also one of my mum’s favourite albums ever. It’s alsojust  a great album – very ahead of its time. 

When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?

The lyrics. I spend a lot of time making sure the lyrics say exactly what I want them to. Even if people don’t know what I’m on about, I hope I can paint a picture. Or I like it when people come up to me after a show and say they feel inspired to write something of their own. That’s really nice too.  

Looking ahead, what do you hope listeners take away from All Things, Rising and Returning, and where do you see yourself going next musically?

I hope that people see that All Things, Rising and Returning was a slow process, and respect and have patience for that. I want people to feel like they know something personal about me afterwards, because they do. I poured a lot of myself into those songs; a lot of things I could barely verbalise a year ago.  

I want more instruments! I want to learn the saxophone and trumpet. And also maybe put a guitar solo into one of the songs.