Download from Bandcamp

Opening doors from her home village in Ryde, Isle of Wight to Berlin’s biker bars and mountaintop cabins in
France, Angelina’s debut album took her to places beyond imagination. Visceral second coming Last Cigarette,
sees the self-taught songwriter stride further from isolation, to embrace collaboration whilst embarking upon a
deeply-cleansing journey through swampy voodoo blues and a wildly unchained vision.
“Last Cigarette’s spark emerged from a vision of Bessie Smith roaring around on a burnt-out motorbike, in some
God forsaken desperate town...” she reveals. “A place where you live by your wits, the streets are full of memories
that burn your heart, gates swing on rusty hinges, you choke on diesel fumes and witness apparitions of jujitsu
vigilante gangs riding the wall of death with balls of fire belching out of exhaust pipes.”
Capturing the sound and truth of her blues heroes Blind Willie Johnson, Ma Rainey, and Charlie Patton, Last
Cigarette takes the old-time influence of Angelina’s critically acclaimed debut LP Vagabond Saint, and sees a
tougher, meaner artist emerge. Anguished vocals tell tales of dangerous highways in smoky transit vans, a coal
miner from Paul Benny’s night paintings, or any day that has turned to rat shit. Through raw riffs and crying lines of
frustration, its hefty rock stomp could dislodge loose floorboards as she navigates dark clouds to unleash her own
wildly turbulent tempest; “It’s lyrically weathered, bereft by lost love and darkness... migrating through anger,
acceptance, relief and strength,” she says. “Many of the lyrics are a heart-torn reaction to a relationship breakup; it
was a slow death, a tough but realistic chapter.”
Music as therapy is a well-worn cliché, but writing for self-preservation can offer the perfect distraction from life’s
turmoil. Following a disciplined routine, Angelina quit her day job, sights set on perfecting her solo performance and
exercising her emotional demons. Taking to her local coffee bar with acoustic guitar in tow, filled with fury and hot
chocolate, she grew in creativity and confidence. “I wrote day and night as a detox; I changed my diet. I painted my
house a different colour... I have a “Do Not Disturb, I’m Writing” notice pinned to my front door and just get on with
it. Most songs were written in one draft, simple thumping blues chords. My voice led the way...I let it go where it
wanted.”
Riding the coastal breeze of her seaside dwellings, Angelina’s music is where nature and nurture meet. Growing up
she’d listen to sea shanty bands, gospel, 20s jazz singers like Billie Holliday and the country blues of Mississippi
Fred McDowell or Blind Willie Johnson favoured by her Chinese mother and English father. Yet, circumstance will
always lend itself to creative opportunity. Vagabond Saint’s success led to a European tour support for Duke
Garwood, recording with Blow Monkeys’ Dr.Robert, and being invited to join Wonderfulsound and Monks Road
Records’ Down the Willows collective (Angelina’s track ‘Golden Day’ is a favourite of BBC Radio’s Gary Crowley).
Reuniting with Rupert Brown (drums percussion, auto harp, B.V’s) Last Cigarette is bolstered through production
duo Boe Weaver (guitar, bass, keys); Barrie ‘Little Barrie’ Cadogan (electric and slide guitar); and The James
Hunter Six’s Jason Wilson (double bass). Session players Joe Glossop (Keys) and Gary Plumley (Flute) plus 5
singers of the Peoples Choir of St. Louis, also feature.
Between the distressed wood and velvet curtains of Boe Weaver’s boutique Studio Humbug on The Island – a
golden-era space within an old water tower on the outskirts of Queen Victoria's Osbourne House estate - its glam
cabin interior offered the perfect hideout for Angelina’s own band of outlaws to hatch their master plan. “Humbug is
an apothecary of potions and spells, a laboratory where words and emotions conceive sound,” Angelina tells. “We
breathe thoughts in and out like magic smoke rings, the air smells like an old leather suitcase. Sharing in the
intense depths of musical thought and decision-making was like witnessing a mirage of genies moving round a
Ouija board like whirling dervishes. I didn’t want the recordings to finish or to ever leave.”
Last Cigarette is fierce. These songs have been stirring deep within, waiting for the right moment and have now
awoken Angelina’s inner voice. Knowing her

1. wonderfulsound.com