TALENTED singer songwriter Nicola Hogg is on a musical roll.

Under her artist's name Nicolah, the Barrow-born, former Kendal College student, started 2019 performing in the Section 28 and The Queer State production at Alexandra Palace, went on to play her first headline show as part of Islington Proms and is now promoting her next single Holiday, mixed and mastered by Warner Music’s Axel Lang and Abbey Road’s Christian Wright. Since moving from Cumbria to London, she's played Glastonbury, released seven singles and been featured as one of Fresh on the Net fresh faves.

Her music is a sum of fresh life experiences about faith, sexuality, culture with a unique and empathic world view. Built on a foundation of classic songwriting, it blends pop sensibilities with an indie spirit. She shares similarities with early Katy Perry, the sweet strum and vocals of Joni Mitchell, and the classic catchy melodies of Hall and Oates.

Holiday sounds like a summer anthem but “it is both a lament and a celebration of life,” says Nicolah. "It’s a story of hope, hope in each other and hope in the moment."

Nicolah - who in 2018 won the Open Category in the Mayor of London GIGS Competition - starts a whistle-stop tour of Cumbria next month, including gigs at The Odd Frog at Barrow on Thursday, September 12; Ye Olde Fleece Inn at Kendal, September 14, and Windermere's Lake View Garden Bar on September 15.

Nicolah is also a creative youth worker, using music to engage young people and she'll use Holiday in a workshop she's running at her old school, St Paul’s at Barrow, encouraging pupils to think about hope and what it means to them: "I’m hoping to inspire the pupils at St Paul’s, but really I think they will inspire me.”