Sally Currie (b. 1985-) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer specialising in writing anti-ballads which combine contemporary folk and electronic music. She is partially deaf however was given the opportunity to learn the violin as a child and in her teens she learnt the viola and the piano. She spent numerous years playing in both the City of Hull Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Hull Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

She left home at 17, pursuing a career as an accountant and in addition she started to write and perform her own music in bands in the Hull area. 

After completing her accountancy exams, she took a career break and travelled around Mexico writing and performing live music on the streets of Oaxaca and Chiapas. During a guided meditation on the hillsides of the Oaxaqueñan mountains she envisaged herself being accompanied through life by a Deer, the totem animal for kindness and compassion to oneself. It was in this moment that the Dyr (old Norse spelling) Sister was born with the title of her work being Fairytales for the Modern Gentleman. Initially this was a solo project utilising the viola, an akai MPX8, percussion and mandolin using a loop pedal to build up her sound as a backdrop to her lyrical stories.

Having expanded this project into an ensemble her work is now a growing compendium of anti-ballads which are surreal, subversive and provocative paintings of sounds respond to the experiences and challenges of modern life. 

 

In her current ensemble she combines folk instruments such as the viola and the harp with post-hiphop and electronic music genres by introducing rhythms and samples through the MPC and incorporating the bass guitar heavily loaded with effects pedals to get a full range of sound. In addition, she writes and arranges vocal harmonies to create an ethereal layer over this unusual string ensemble.

 

Sally has had numerous highlights over her career including:

 

• Co-writing a track for ‘All Night North’ with the band ‘Awash with Antler’ a compilation of local artists celebrating the work of Phillip Larkin on the 25th anniversary of his death.

• Performing solo as The Dyr Sister with highlights being:

o Substance at Hull City Hall as part of City of Culture – a festival of music featuring artists such as Jane Weaver, Hannah Peel, Nadine Shah, PINS and The Lone Taxidermist

o Concerts at the Jazz Café in Camden supporting Banned From Utopia, featuring members of Frank Zappa’s backing bands

o Concerts with artists such as Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab) This is the Kit, Thomas Truax, Curtis Eller and Brix and the Extricated.

• Collaborations with artists of different disciplines including:

o Control – Seeking More Kindness in Human – a Durational Performance Art piece with artist Michael Anthony Barnes-Wynters

o The Confessional – an improvised spoken word project working with sound artist Myonemanband providing musical soundscapes to participants sharing what is on their mind be it prepared poetry, or freestyle talking.