Kiioto + Bella Spinks

We’re delighted to present an evening with Kiiōtō - the new project from Lou Rhodes (Mercury-nominated singer/songwriter and founder member of highly acclaimed top 30 duo Lamb) and multi-platinum songwriter and keyboardist Rohan Heath (founder member of Urban Cookie Collective).

Ahead of their visit to TOM, they have together recorded an album that is both richly instinctive and inquisitive, infused with a transporting spirit of ongoing exploration and discovery.

Lou and Rohan connected in lockdown, a friendship grew and they became inseparable. Then emerged the nascent seed of Kiiōtō’s debut album, As Dust We Rise, but it was on a trip to Louisiana that the songs began to take more solid form. "It's a record that doesn't shy away from the big themes of life", Lou says, "we kind of rolled up our sleeves on this one".

Written and partially recorded in Lou and Rohan’s home studios in London and Wiltshire, the songs were then taken to producer Simon Byrt’s studio. Kiiōtō’s debut stands as an intuitive meld of shared histories, united in the desire to explore fresh stories and places. "These are the songs we’ve always needed to write", says Rohan. "Every melody, lyric and chord we’d ever sang or played to this point was part of the journey to Kiiōtō to this album: As Dust We Rise".

Support comes from Bella Spinks

Singer-songwriter Bella Spinks released her debut album Homeostasis, produced by Matt Ingram (Laura Marling, Lianne La Havas, Denai Moore), on Sublime Recordings.

Showcasing her signature piano style and inventive vocals, she has drawn comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Carole King and Regina Spektor.

Her recent single Mother Or Muse attempts to highlight the pressure that some women feel in having to make a choice between becoming a mother or pursuing an artistic career. And how it's entirely possible to do both!

"Bella has the true instincts of every born poet, lyricist or writer that ever breathed" - Tom Robinson, 6music