Florence Somerville Talks Debut Album, Her Voice And More

Aug 6, 2025 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Feature Image Photo Credit: Thomas Reynolds

Essex-born singer-songwriter Florence Sommerville has released her highly anticipated debut album, Endless Horizon, under Floville Music. She spoke to us about her new record, her voice and more:

You have released your debut album ‘Endless Horizon’. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

I’m so proud of all the hard work and dedication that has gone into this album from the whole team. I cannot tell you what a pleasure it was to work with every single person that’s played a part in the making of ENDLESS HORIZON; whether it was the amazing producers/engineers, the fantastic studio musicians, brilliant co-writers, terrific album art designers and everyone in between.

This record didn’t start as a planned full album, originally it was only going to be a 7 track EP, but after spending time with my manager in Nashville and continuing to write more songs – both without and with phenomenal songwriters – we decided that there were a few more songs that belonged on the same project as the tracks we’d already started. That’s when we decided to make it a full length 12 track album. After we’d almost finished the record, we actually also decided to add 4 bonus tracks and have them only available on CD. I absolutely love CDs, and part of that is because you quite often get little extras like bonus tracks, so I was so excited for this to be a part of ENDLESS HORIZON. I was also excited that
the bonus tracks would be fully acoustic, as although it was just incredible to play with the studio band, and to hear my songs the way I always wanted them to sound, as I’d spent so much time playing shows just myself and my guitar, it felt special to have a little of that on there too.

Where did you record the album and who produced it?

The album was recorded across a few different studios. The main chunk of the album was recorded between Crescent Studios in Swindon and the Mortuary Studios in Exeter, and was produced by Alan Cackett and Alan West. We started in Crescent studios with Damon Sawyer and Ed Truckell as engineers and recorded mainly the rhythm sections of the original 7 tracks (when it was going to be an EP), along with some of the guitar lines and a few guide vocals.

Once we had decided that we wanted to extend the project into a full length album, unfortunately Crescent Studios was no longer available, so we decided to record the rest of the record at the Mortuary studios with Adam Sweet who not only engineered the rest of the record, but also played guitar on a lot of the tracks, and mixed the whole album. It was mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering. The acoustic bonus tracks were recorded at Ten21 studios in Ortham (near Maidstone) and produced by Sean Kenny and Alan Cackett. They were also mixed by Adam Sweet and mastered by Jason Mitchell.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

Recording this album was such fun and I was so honoured to be working with all of these amazing people. One of my favorite stories about the recording of the album is actually about the Mortuary Studios itself. As the name suggests, there is a little more to this studio’s back story. The studio building itself is a small building within a larger estate that used to be an insane asylum.

Going even further, the building of the studio used to be the mortuary where they would take dead bodies to have autopsies done. I know this is a fairly dark story, but I think it’s so fascinating when an actual building has so much history, and the cherry on top is that Adam still has the morgue slab they used in the kitchen of the studio!

Covered with a glass top with his coffee machine now sitting on top, you can walk into Adam’s studio and see where they used to do all of the preparation of the bodies (including the drain). I know it sounds macabre, but it’s actually really cool – although I won’t be booking a session on Halloween.

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

A lot of the songs have slightly different instrumentation on them. One of the instruments I was particularly excited about was on track 2 (Fearless, written with Gary Burr), because we knew we wanted a mandolin on this song from the beginning as Gary had added a mandolin part on the demo that just sounded amazing.

So when the time came to adding the mandolin part on the real track, we couldn’t just have anyone do it, we asked Gary if he would record the mandolin part from his studio in Nashville and send it over for us to add onto the track. He graciously agreed, and now not only was that song written with the legend himself, it actually has him playing on it too! I feel so honoured every time I hear that song.

Who were the musicians who worked with you on the album?

I had just amazing musicians working on this record! It was hard for me to
specifically describe the sound I was after for these songs, but Alan West and the
whole studio band just completely understood what the songs needed and the
music that we ended with was everything I’d ever hoped them to be – and more.

Here is a full credit list for the musicians on the whole album:

(I’ll Be Your) Best Broken Heart
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Damon Sawyer
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Electric Guitars – Tom Wright
Acoustic Guitars – Alan West, Adam Sweet
Organ / Piano – Tom Berge
Pedal Steel – Sarah Jory
Harmony Vocals – Florence Sommerville, John Taylor, Laura Addy

Fearless
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Mikey Ciancio
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Acoustic Guitars – Adam Sweet, Tom Wright
Fiddle – Joe Mansfield
Mandolin – Gary Burr
Harmony Vocal – Laura Addy

Overton
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Damon Sawyer
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Electric Guitar – Tom Wright
Acoustic Guitars – Florence Sommerville, Adam Sweet
Viola – Joe Mansfield
Dobro – Sarah Jory
Harmony Vocals – John Taylor, Laura Addy

Broken Pieces
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Damon Sawyer
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Electric Guitars – Tom Wright, Adam Sweet
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Sweet
Electric Piano – Tom Berge
Harmony Vocals – Florence Sommerville and John Taylor

California
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Mikey Ciancio
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Sweet
Electric Guitars – Adam Sweet and Cristiano Pochesci
Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Harmony Vocals – Sally Barris and Francesca de Valence

Out Where the Love Grows

Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums and Percussion – Mikey Ciancio
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Acoustic Guitars – Adam Sweet
Dobro – Cristiano Pochesci
Harmony Vocal – Florence Sommerville

Silly Little Things
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Damon Sawyer
Percussion – Adam Sweet
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Electric Guitar – Tom Wright
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Sweet
Piano – Tom Berge
Pedal Steel – Sarah Jory
Harmony Vocals – Florence Sommerville, John Taylor

Forget the Water
Vocal: Florence Sommerville
Acoustic Guitar: Florence Sommerville

Love Me Then
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Sweet
Resonator Guitar – Adam Sweet
Percussion – Adam Sweet
Harmony Vocal – Florence Sommerville

Boots in the Rain
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Mikey Ciancio
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Acoustic Guitars – Alan West
Electric Guitar – Adam Sweet
Pedal Steel – Cristiano Pochesci
Harmony Vocal – Sally Barris

Molasses
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Damon Sawyer
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Sweet
Electric Guitar – Tom Wright
Organ – Tom Berge
Pedal Steel – Sarah Jory
Harmony Vocals – Florence Sommerville, John Taylor

Cut and Run
Lead Vocal – Florence Sommerville
Drums – Damon Sawyer
Bass Guitar – Nick Bayes
Electric Guitars – Adam Sweet and Tom Wright
Acoustic Guitar – Adam Sweet
Piano – Tom Berge
Harmony Vocals – Florence Sommerville, John Taylor

Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

a) The album track that hears me at my happiest would probably be Cut and
Run. The song is all about that happy jittery feeling when you first meet
someone you really like and contemplate just running away from all the
everyday things to spend the summer just being carefree and joyous with
that person.

b) I’d say the track that hears me at my angriest is Molasses, because that track is a true story that I wrote about a friend of mine and her relationship with her dad. Unfortunately, it’s not a very happy or healthy relationship, and I felt like I couldn’t do anything to help. So what do writers do when they feel helpless? Exactly. Thankfully my friend actually really likes Molasses and anytime she comes to a show I try to play it for her.

c) This one stumped me the most, because I think quite a few of these tracks have some reflection in them as they find the protagonist almost at the moment of realization. A few of these are Forget the water, Love me then, California, Broken Pieces; but the song that is the most truthfully reflective is Out Where The Love Grows. This song I wrote about the village that I grew up in (and still live in), and how much I adored growing up there with my younger sister and it just reflects on the love that place has from me and everyone who lives there.

Who designed the album artwork?

The album artwork was designed by the amazing company who do a lot of my digital designs from my website to my branding to the brilliant designs on my t-shirts – Clockwork Moggy. Working with Carrie, Neil and the whole Clockwork Moggy team has been an amazing.

Was it a difficult album to write?

As it wasn’t a planned album, all the songs were written individually as opposed to writing a full album with the intention of them all being on a project. This meant there wasn’t as much pressure on the writing of the songs because they didn’t have to fit in with other songs or have a time limit on how long it would take to finish.

One of the things I love about this album is that because the songs weren’t written to go together they all have their own stories, meaning the album’s sound is fairly varied. But they also don’t feel unconnected, meaning that there’s a whole journey the album can take you on, and it could be a different journey depending on the listener.

The track ‘Broken Pieces’ was released as a single. What was the inspiration/story behind the track?

Broken Pieces is about someone who is starting to realise their partner might not be as perfect as they thought, they’re starting to see some ‘broken pieces’ along the edges of their relationship. I had so much fun writing and recording this song, so I hope you enjoy it.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

Once I’ve left the stage, I just want to have played one song that meant something or made a difference to one person sitting in the audience. What I aim to do with every song is to connect with someone, and maybe just show them that they’re not the only person feeling that way. The only other thing would be to have left it all on the stage. Every time that I perform, I want to give the audience everything I’ve got.

Do you perform solo or do you have a band?

I perform both solo and with a band. I normally do smaller or support slot gigs solo (just me and my guitar), and larger gigs with my amazing band. Playing my songs with the band is incredible, they’re all fantastic players, and it’s a complete adrenaline rush getting to share the stage with them. I really looking forward to the upcoming festivals we’re playing, because I’ve never played a festival with the band before, and being a big fan of festivals myself, there’s nothing more exciting than having a full band play.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

I don’t tend to use too many effects or anything like that, normally just a little reverb, and the only pedal that I normally use is a tuning pedal. More than anything else, my personal guitar is my favoured stage instrument. My acoustic Faith is a special instrument for me, because it was given to me by a very good guitarist friend of mine. He tends to buy more guitars than he needs, so on this particular occasion instead of selling it, he gifted it to me, so it’s a special guitar.

How do you look after your voice?

Everyone has different tips and tricks for keeping your voice nice and healthy,
here’s some of the ones I use:

1. Make sure that before any time that you sing, you properly warm your voice
up. I actually made myself a recording of certain scales and exercises I use to
warm up so that I can warm up anywhere.

2. Hot honey and lemon is always soothing for the voice if you feel a little run
down or sore. For at least a few hours before I play a gig, I only drink either water
or lemon tea, as in my experience anything else gets my voice clogged up.

3. My favorite pre-gig extra is Vocalzone. Vocalzone throat pastilles are perfect
for clearing your voice if you feel it’s a little clogged or it’s brilliant at soothing a
sore or over worked voice. There’s a few different brands, types and flavours, but
I find Vocalzone to be the best.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

There is a great book written by Karen M. McManus called One Of Us Is Lying. It’s a murder mystery full of forbidden relationships and deception, plenty of wood for a country music songwriter’s fire.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

My hometown is actually a little village in Essex called Orsett. You can hear all
about it in track 6 of the album Out Where The Love Grows that I wrote about the
village. If I could describe it in five words, they would be peaceful, rural, quaint,
unspoiled and community.

Do you have any further live dates in the UK/Europe planned for 2025/2026?

Saturday August 9 – Motor Mule Festival, Quex Park, Birchington – 11.30am
Saturday August 9 – The Hare, Blean (Late Afternoon)
Sunday August 10 – Motor Mule Festival Quex Park, Birchington – 11.45am
Thursday August 14 – London, Chiswick – Lil’ Nashville
Saturday August 16 – Chelmsford, Country Calling Festival – with full band
Friday August 22 – London, Hux Kensington Live
Sunday August 24 – Ashford, The Dog House Charity Festival
Friday August 29 – Guildford, the Star with with Talia Simone & the Saddle
Tramp Quartet
Sunday August 31 – Wingham, near Canterbury – Anchor Arts
Sunday Sept 14 – Rye Harvest Wine & Food Fest
Thursday Sept 18 – East Grinstead Bookshop
Saturday Sept 27 – East Midlands, UK Country Radio Awards
Wednesday October 1 – Chelmsford, Hot Box – Radio City Sessions with
Jackson Line and Jonny Morgan

Sunday October 19 – Colchester, Headgate Theatre – Kyson Point album
Launch – Florence support act