Everyday (feat. Ríoghnach Connolly)

First Word Records is very proud to bring you new music from Werkha, featuring the vocals of Ríoghnach Connolly on 'Everyday'.

This is the second track taken to be taken from Werkha's third full-length solo project, to be released in late 2025, following on from instrumental cut 'S-Bend' which received airplay from Gilles Peterson (Worldwide FM) and Don Letts (BBC 6 Music), amongst others.

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'Everyday' illustrates Werkha's unique ability to build a tapestry of organic and electronic sounds. A glorious piano riff, twinkling synths, and live bass glide across an almost footwork-esque skippy percussive rhythm track, all accompanied by luscious flute, vocals and harmonies performed by the absolute powerhouse that is Ríoghnach Connolly.

Vocalist / lyricist / flautist Ríognach was named BBC Radio 2's 'Folk Singer of the year' twice, and RTÉ's 'Best Folk Singer' in 2025. Based in Manchester, she is also a member of several bands, including Honeyfeet (Wah Wah 45s) and folk duo The Breath, signed to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records. With a wildly eclectic palette, her style weaves between traditional Irish influences to jazz and soul, which has seen her grace stages across the globe.

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Werkha explains that "'Everyday' started as an idea quite a few years ago. I was curiously trying to catch a mood of melancholy in the original piano part.

I love sitting down with an instrument and an image in my mind. This particular one was about the idea of suspended movement. It was the image of hair in the wind being the only still thing, which prompted this idea.

Fast forward a few years and that theme of movement became relevant to this particular body of work. I explored the idea of a feature vocal on this track, not discounting my own vocal efforts (which will stay safely in my own mind and hardrive for now!)

Reaching out to Ríoghnach was something that felt like it made sense. We've worked together in the context of music outreach here in Manchester, and I've also remixed Honeyfeet's cover of 'You Go To My Head'.

The joy of working with Ríoghnach on this was in the way the mood of the song quite suddenly developed into one of hope..."

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Werkha (real name Tom Leah) is a multi-instrumentalist born in Rusholme, Manchester. Additionally to his own material, he's worked on releases with Quantic, A Certain Ratio, Marcos Valle, Eska, Chunky, Andrew Ashong and extensively with Keisha Thompson and Bryony Jarman-Pinto, to cite a few.

He's played shows across the UK & Europe, touring with the likes of Bonobo, Chet Faker, Rebecca Vasmant and Mr Scruff, and gigs with Crazy P, GoGo Penguin, Todd Terje, Lefto and MCDE, as well as performing at legendary venues like The Roundhouse, The Jazz Café and Manchester Cathedral, and various festivals including Glastonbury, We Out Here, A Love Supreme and Latitude.

Previous support has come from a wide range of tastemakers such as Zakia, Jamz Supernova, Scratcha DVA, Mo Ayoub and Julie Adenuga.

Additionally to music making, Werkha has been working with a mental health arts charity in Stockport, as well as collaborating with Reform Radio to curate opportunites for upcoming Mancunian artists. As Werkha says, "a commercial music entity doesn't exist without a grassroots industry to propagate it".

He's also been creating and building another side-project, Saturama - a live audio-visual experience aimed at reconnecting to our rainforests in the UK, which has received support from organisations like Earth Percent, Plantlife, Manchester Museum, RSPB Haweswater and Kendal Mountain Festival.

Currently on a hiatus travelling South America, Werkha has an abundance of new material set to be unleashed into the ether; this single being the second drop from a deeply personal project exploring his own vulnerabilites, and his story of working though those.

Following on from previous releases on First Word ('The Rigour' EP from 2020, and the 'All Werk Is Play' LP from 2022), this track is taken from Werkha's forthcoming album 'Unsung Irregular', which is scheduled for release in Autumn 2025.

Werkha is a thoughtful, conscientious artist, whose approach to creating is innovative, unique, ever-evolving and deeply groovy. We're very excited to present this new material to you over the coming months.

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'Everyday' is released on all digital platforms, Thursday 22nd May 2025.