Floella Grace, describes her music as ‘dream folk’, which to be honest is the perfect description for her music. Delicate and lulling but with the passion and soul of folk; it’s certain that Floella Grace breathes some much needed new life into the music industry. Akin to the likes of First Aid Kit and Lucy Rose, Floella Grace however possesses a fresher quality in her music; it’s raw and sweeter, something that I haven’t come across in a while.

Influences from her childhood are quite varied genre wise; there’s a bit of heavy metal rock with Tenacious D and then there’s the contrast of swing and jazz with Frank Sinatra and Pink Martini. And although a ukulele cannot really achieve the same effect as death metal, the intensity is still there within her work. This crossover of genres is developed with more recent influences as well: Radiohead and Arcade Fire gives Floella Grace a bit of a kick, especially in the bridges of her songs.

Floella was previously in a band called Black House Crows but the group disbanded due to separate projects. This split allowed Floella to start on her solo music; busking in Portsmouth and Southampton opened new doors in terms of gigs and festivals. Floella Grace has since performed at numerous festivals: Blissfields, Isle Of Wight Festival and Southsea Fest to name a few. She has supported many bands too, including Plastic Mermaids and The Lion and the Wolf. Scheduled to play at Bestival, Ventnor Fringe and Postfest: it appears she has a pretty full plate in terms of performances.

It’s near impossible to pick a personal favourite song, but one of them has to be Toothpaste, where honeyed ukulele music and sleepy, echoing vocals harmonise together in blissful melodies that creates nostalgic reminiscing of lying in a sunny field (drink of your choice in hand). The perfect music for a summer’s afternoon? I think so. Most of her songs have a similar layout: take What Is Love for example- it will start off soothing and beautiful, then her voice and the ukulele will start to creep up, louder and more intense until you get to the bridge- a sudden, small explosion of emotion and strong vocals that ricochet in your head and leave you just a little speechless. Exactly what music is meant to do.

Floella Grace was asked what animal she would be, in keeping with Blissfield’s theme ‘Walk on the Wild Side’; she replied ‘Ooh, I think I’d be a robin. They have a beautiful bird-call and it’d be too dangerous to be any animal on ground or in the sea these days.’ Her response quite reflects her music: it’s beautiful, it’s clever and it’s thought provoking.

If you would like to win a pair of tickets to Blissfields and a Strong Island tee to wear there, then all you have to do to win this prize is email stuart@strong-island.co.uk with your answer to the following easy question.

Name the lead singer of the band Bastille who were the headline act at Blissfields 2013?

The deadline for entries will be midnight Sunday 24th June with the winner being announced Monday 23rd June at 10am.