Songs From The Dust is the new contemporary classical crossover EP from award winning film composer and singer songwriter Joanna Karselis. Written as she recovered from her life threatening battle with long Covid, this EP captures the pain and hope of encountering a life altering illness.

Using lyrical pianos, grungy synths, soaring strings and gut punching beats, Songs From The Dust takes the listener on a journey from near death to ultimate restoration. A definite choice for fans of Olafur Arnalds and Nils Frahm.

Jo started writing Songs From The Dust as she lay dangerously ill in bed with long Covid. Every fortnight she would have a short, thirty minute bout of energy. She used those windows to sketch out the piano melodies for each of the tracks, writing music that captured the pain of near death with her desire to be able to get up and dance. As she recovered she could sit up in bed working on her laptop, and the tracks gradually grew as she recovered. In Songs From The Dust she combines her background as a string player and violinist with her love of synthesisers and beats to create a visceral, uplifting EP that ultimately speaks to the joy of living and recovery.

By The Lovely Shores (EP, May 2018)
In The Town Of Bethlehem or In The Bleak Midwinter (Charity Single, December 2016- all proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Society)
Ocean (Single, October 2016)
Journey On Home (EP, April 2015)
Silent Night (Charity Single which received airplay on BBC WM, December 2014- half of all proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Society)
Here Is Love (which is a free download! Single, November 2015)

Original song written for Rush Production's 2013 run of Hide and Seek (adapted from Carol Ann Duffy's The Stolen Childhood). Song written, performed, recorded and mastered by Joanna Karselis and copyright is owned by her; artwork copyright Catherine Major.

Most of Jo's singer-songwriter work is up for you to enjoy through the links above, but here's one song to wrap your ears around now called Hide & Seek. It was written whilst scoring a play with the same name. It's one of Jo's earlier works so the recording quality isn't as high as it would be nowadays, but the song itself is still one of her favourites.

 You can also hear Jo on the What Is It To Be Human? and Girl Of Myth And Legend compilation albums. She performs regularly with The Sputnik Collective, and has also been involved in gig promotion with Impact Birmingham. Gig announcements will be on the blog page.