Charity single released to support good cause

The Sunflower Thieves (pictured), or locally known artists Amy Illingworth and Lily Sturt-Bolshaw from Belper, have collaborated with contemporary composer and musician James Oldrini, in association with the Belper Arts Festival, to release charity single Love Is.

The words were adapted from Biblica’s Corinthians by writer and festival organiser George Gunby. It was set to music by Oldrini earlier in the year for the purpose of being included in the Belper Arts easter production The Resurrection 2015. It has now been recorded by Amy and Lily.

“The reaction to Love Is surprised and pleased us,” said James Oldrini. “Soon after we recorded the demo I instantly thought that this would be a releasable track. The words are beautiful and work in a commercial sense too. I thought it would be a shame to write something so meaningful and for it to sit on the shelf after the performance. It’s the perfect track to release near Christmas and help raise awareness.”

“We sat down with James to discuss re-recording the track for release and to decide which charity we’d all like to support.” said Amy. “It was unanimous that we wanted to support a local charity. Aquabox, based in Derbyshire, helps people around the world in need of clean drinking water and essential aid - it’s something that we all really want to support.”

Lily went on to say: “We’re really excited about this release. Not only can we help raise awareness of the fantastic work Aquabox is doing, we also get to unveil our new name Sunflower Thieves. We plan to move our music careers forward and release our first EP next year.”

The single is available to download from www.sunflowerthieves.co.uk Please leave a donation to Aquabox.

James Oldrini added: “On January 2, I am putting a pre-album launch night for my debut album Enlighten on at Number 28, Belper Market Place.

“It’s an intimate gig with my quartet playing a few tracks from the new album. The Sunflower Thieves will also play a set and also Gong’s Dave Sturt will join us on the night to play a few tracks from his new solo album. We intend to do a special performance of Love Is to finish. It’s only £5 on entry and that money will also go to support Aquabox. Limited spaces are available, so please contact me via my webpage if you’d like a space reserving.”

See www.joldrini.com/contact.htm for more.