Holly Macve

About Holly Macve

Holly Macve is an Ireland-born musician who performs as a solo artist. Born in Galway in western Ireland, Macve and her sister were whisked away "in the night" by her mother from their errant father, to live with her grandparents in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. Macve's grandfather Duncan Druce was a classical composer.

At 18, Macve moved south to Brighton where she began performing at local venues, working in a café whilst singing on open mic nights. Bella Union boss Simon Raymonde was a customer at the café, and having watched her perform, signed her to his label where she went on to record her first solo album Golden Eagle released in March 2017. The bulk of Golden Eagle was recorded in Newcastle at the home studio of producer Paul Gregory (of Bella Union label-mates Lanterns on the Lake), with extra recording in Brighton and London. On its release, Macve was described by Record Collector as "an ethereal offspring of Nick Cave blessed with the stark musical backdrop of Johnny Cash's 'American' series of recordings."

It was her mother's record collection that initially inspired the young Macve, from old blues to Bob Dylan. From these early influences, she went on to discover the likes of Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash and Gillian Welch. When making her second album Not the Girl, Macve listened to "loads of different things", including The Shangri-Las, The Beatles and John Lennon, John Cale, PJ Harvey, and Nick Cave.