Ellie Moulang Lewis

Photo: Meriel Paget

Biography

50 word bio

Ellie Moulang Lewis is a cellist and folk singer, beginning to root her feet in the growing folk music scene in Leeds. Playing with ‘Heart Shaped Logic’ and cello-singing duo Elm, Ellie explores the rich variety of percussive, lyrical and chordal sounds of the cello, mixed with her earthy voice.

150 words

Ellie Moulang Lewis is a cellist and folk singer, beginning to root her feet in the growing folk music scene in Leeds. Playing in the contemporary Leeds-based Alt Folk band ‘Heart Shaped Logic’ and the cello-singing duo ‘Elm’, Ellie finds inspiration from the roots of the music, exploring the rich variety of percussive, lyrical and chordal textures and tones of the cello, alongside her earthy vocals. Inspiring her song-writing for Elm is her love for the natural world, as they venture into recording their first EP and playing at folk events around the UK such as The Land Skills Fair 2025. Alongside her studies on the Folk, Roots and Blues BA at Leeds Conservatoire, Ellie is a free-lance cellist playing and recording for the soul-filled artists Philippa Zawe, Caitlin Mayall and ‘Her Orange Coat’. Currently working for Made With Music, Ellie finds so much joy in creative collaboration.

300 words

Inspiring Ellie’s song-writing for Elm is her deep love for the natural world. They are currently recording their first EP, sharing their music at The Land Skills Fair 2025, Bridgenorth Music and Arts Festival 2025 and are excited to support Danny Bradley with Shire Folk in 2026. Alongside her studies on the Folk, Roots and Blues BA at Leeds Conservatoire, Ellie is a free-lance cellist playing and recording for the soul-filled artists Philippa Zawe, Caitlin Mayall and ‘Her Orange Coat’.

Ellie is writing, arranging and teaching songs for mixed voice choirs after finding so much joy in singing in community choirs throughout her life. Sharing her love of collaboration Ellie is a ‘Trainee Music Leader’ with Made With Music on their project OPEN. Following from the New Connections project with Orchestras Live, Ellie is returning to a primary school in South Leeds in September – December 2025 with two peers bringing music workshops to a class of skilful year 5 children, giving them the opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have to explore their creative abilities.

Ellie has enjoyed guesting for gigs with The Suspicious Jazz Roll Ups, 1.C.A.B Collective and the Hedgesong Collective across the UK from Bristol to Wales to Leeds.

Photos: Natasha Dobson

Elm

Photos: Aidan Steele

“Elm’s rich floating voices paired with beautiful cello melodies creates the warmest of atmospheres. Their music is grounded and often connected to nature, leaving a lasting sense of calm and freshness that you would find lying on a bed of moss in the forest.”

– Erin Lee, organiser of Forests In Motion at Open Source Arts.

Heart Shaped Logic

Photos: Meriel Paget

Photos: Libby Greenwood

‘New Connections’ with Orchestras Live

Photos: Eliot Barley

Videos

Contact

Feel free to get in touch by email

ellie.rmlewis@gmail.com

Follow me on instagram/facebook for snippets of what I get up to with this cello of mine:)

@elliemoulang

Follow Elm for not just one cello but two!

@elmmusic.folk

Send us an email

@elmmusic.folk@gmail.com

Find Heart Shaped Logic on socials too

@heartshapedlogic

Commentary

Word count for commentary = 1532

Word Count for EPK = 553

In creating this EPK I had the challenge of condensing the multiple aspects of my work and study into one format. I wrote several drafts of a bio to figure out how I wanted to include my broad range of projects, from leading music workshops for young people and playing one off gigs as a folk cellist in a live band, to beginning to perform regularly as a cellist and singer within several bands. I looked at websites of artists I was inspired by such as Hannah James (James, 2025) and Toby Kuhn (Kuhn, n.d.), to come to a conclusion of whether I needed to condense what I do down to one thing – for example creating one EPK for myself as a freelance cellist specifically – or if it was okay to include a broad range of projects. I saw that on the design of a website you can create a separate page to include different projects, so this is what I’ll work on after this initial draft. I included the projects important to me to date in my bio, covering different areas of my work and study.

I have created this EPK to send to artists/bands/projects who are looking for a folk cellist, and those I will reach out to for potential work. I wrote an initial draft of 800 words in more of a website format, having one bio for myself, one section for Elm and one for Heart Shaped Logic (the two bands I’m currently most involved in). Yet in conversation with a band member Samwise Seidel and looking at the EPK of a friend’s band Tom Cleg (formatted in a google drive folder), I saw the difference between the websites I had been viewing and an EPK. My EPK now comprises of 3 separate bios. This will make it easier for promotional content to be made and to be shared on differing social media platforms. I will use the 800-word version for a website in the future. I have been writing bios and CV’s for different organisations such as Opera North and Made With Music which has allowed me to gain insight into my professional work, the information people want to know and how I begin to write about myself and my work professionally.

The photographs and videos I have selected highlight the different ways I play and different settings I’ve played in. I aim to create more professional videos. Aside from one professional video with Crosswire Sessions at Leeds Conservatoire, I have included poor quality phone camera footage for now. I am happy with the photographs that have been taken by professionals/semi-professionals. I aim to also include testimonials from artists I have worked with as a freelance cellist to further promote more this area of my work. Sharing upcoming (or past) gigs/performances by the separate bands I’m in meant I haven’t included them in this EPK, yet I’ve included links to those social media accounts. However, this could be something I include in the future and/or on a website. Sharing photos of me singing and playing cello at the same time to highlight this skill has been successful so far, as artists who have required a folk cellist have also wanted vocals. Few cellists also sing so this will help me to build up a unique selling point (USP) (Harrington, 2025). Many of my photos include me playing outside. Environmental awareness is a passion of mine aside from music, so I weave them together as much as possible. I’m pleased to have been found by artists/songwriters with similar views such as Her Orange Coat (Coat, 2024), so I intend to keep this as a strong visual theme as I begin to design a website.

To promote myself as a musician further, I switched my Instagram account from private to public, from personal to professional, and created a Facebook profile. I also edited my bio and included my current bands. After discussing with a local folk singer Lilian (Lilian, 2023) who doesn’t have an EPK, I realised from her experience that posting regularly and sharing relevant information can have a similar role as an EPK. After 3 years of using Instagram Lilian is now creating an EPK to diversify her audience, work, and contacts. I have also experienced that maintaining an Instagram/Facebook profile has had a large impacted on my work so far, putting me in touch with several artists/bands I am currently working with. So, I will continue to post more regularly and consider attaching my EPK when I have formatted it more professionally.

There are folk musicians who don’t use technology. I’ve had conversations with the regular attendees of the folk club at The Grove Inn (Folk at the Grove, 2025), and friends of mine of a younger demographic than the folk club, who don’t use social media. In this case, for a section of my intended audience, it’s good to have an EPK rather than relying on people to interact on social media accounts. There is a debate about releasing music on mainstream streaming platforms such as Spotify (The Guardian, 2021). As folk musicians desire people to be in the same room as sharing songs/tunes has been an oral tradition until recent times (Sutcliffe, 2025), there are many folk musicians not using social media, and others such as the contemporary folk duo Lucy and Hazel who do not use Spotify but Bandcamp instead (Hazel, n.d.). Potentially not releasing music on Spotify will reach fewer listeners and therefore have less streams and money from Spotify and less collections from PRS (PRS for Music, 2024). Lucy and Hazel, and many other musicians pay for a website domain, giving them a clear handle to be easily found when searching for them online. When I feel it’s a good time in my career to create a website and I am earning fairly from my work then I will also pay for a domain.

Considering the structure of my EPK I am inspired by the website of cellist William Jack (Jack, 2024). He includes a section which lists the services he offers as a musician. I have discussed with a fellow folk musician Georgie Rix that this is a good way to also highlight the variety of work you do on an EPK and be specific, where you can’t have separate pages of projects as on a website. As I’m branching out on the variety of work I do, this will be a good section to add to my EPK following this initial draft, and it doesn’t add much to the word count/time to read. I struggle to find my own voice and highlight a strong USP in the digital world, especially with folk music. I’ve noticed through looking at others’ websites that the ones which stand out most are the ones that have a strong USP such as Toby Kuhn (Kuhn, n.d.) and Lucy and Hazel. I gain a lot of inspiration meeting musicians and discussing how they interact with this social media issue (Hazel, February 2025), and the variety of performances they do and how they got to that stage (Jack, April 2025).

In terms of graphic design for promotion that’ll be included in the EPK, website, merchandise etc. (Harrington, 2025), I will create this myself and/or among friends. To me folk music and folk art go together under the same principles that all people can create. It will also help me to keep a consistent and personal visual theme throughout my platforms and keep the costs of promotion to a minimum. So far, I have exchanged work with photographers, so this has been zero cost. With access to facilities such as recording studios and equipment, and networks with skilled students at Leeds Conservatoire, the cost of promotional and marketing aspects are low/free. Outside of university this would be very expensive to create with professional studios etc. so making the most of these facilities has been very helpful to keep promotional costs to a minimum. For my personal and professional development, I will be building up my portfolio of work, documenting it as I go, updating my EPK, and creating a website. I will consider giving a rate to charge as a freelance cellist. This could be difficult with the uncertainty of gaining work as self-employed and a student, so currently I’m accepting the rate offered. This means sometimes putting time and work into an unpaid gig. However, this will still help me to build up my portfolio, professional network, and gain more work in the future.

Finally, I decided to write the ‘contacts’ section in third person. Discussing with band member Emily Semple we felt drawn to the conversational style of Toby Kuhn’s contacts page where he adds short, personalised comments. This inspired us both to want to reach out to him. I am further inspired by his ‘short bio, long bio and silly bio’ which adds personality into the more linear format of a bio. I will consider a similar format/style that’s personal to me when designing a website. I have gained a lot of insight from creating this first EPK draft and aim to design a website and more professionally formatted EPK in the near future.

Bibliography

Coat, H. O., 2024. Ballads For This Age Bandcamp. [Online]
Available at: https://herorangecoat.bandcamp.com/album/ballads-for-this-age
[Accessed 10 May 2025].

Folk at the Grove, 2025. Folk at the Grove. [Online]
Available at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/392581840835608/?locale=en_GB
[Accessed 19 May 2025].

Harrington, G. (2025) ‘Finding your USP: Publicity and Promotion’ [lecture], SHR4C007R Professional Studies 1: Working in the Creative Industries. Leeds

Harrington, G. (2025) ‘Music Industry Marketing’ [lecture], SHR4C007R Professional Studies 1: Working in the Creative Industries. Leeds Conservatoire. 10 February.

Conservatoire. 31 March.

Hazel, L. a., February 2025. Lucy and Hazel EP Launch – What Was Stolen. Leeds: All Hallows Church.

Hazel, L. a., n.d.. Lucy and Hazel. [Online]
Available at: https://lucyandhazel.co.uk/music/
[Accessed 17 May 2025].

Jack, W., 2024. William Jack. [Online]
Available at: https://williamjackmusic.com/about/
[Accessed 18 May 2025].

Jack, W., April 2025. William Jack. Leeds: Hyde Park Book Club.

James, H., 2025. Hannah James Music. [Online]
Available at: https://hannahjamesmusic.com/
[Accessed 20 May 2025].

Kuhn, T., n.d.. Tobys Cello. [Online]
Available at: https://tobyscello.org/
[Accessed 18 May 2025].

Lilian, 2023. Pareidolia. [Sound Recording] (Talking Cat Recordings).

PRS for Music, 2024. PRS for Music. [Online]
Available at: https://www.prsformusic.com/
[Accessed 19 May 2025].

Sutcliffe, R. (2024) ‘Introduction to Technology and Folk Music’ [lecture], FLK4C004R Contextual Studies 1 (Folk, Roots and Blues). Leeds Conservatoire. 16 October.

The Guardian, 2021. The music streaming debate: what the artists, songwriters and industry insiders say. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/10/music-streaming-debate-what-songwriter-artist-and-industry-insider-say-publication-parliamentary-report
[Accessed 19 May 2025].

SHR4C007R~002 24104393 EPK