Teacups

Teacups is a name used by more than one act. One version is a New Zealand electronic indie-folk group formed by Elizabeth Stokes and Chelsea Jade Metcalf, later joined by upright bassist Talita Setyady. The other is an English a cappella folk quartet made up of Alex Cummings, Kate Locksley, Rosie Calvert and William Finn.

New Zealand act

The New Zealand Teacups begins as a busking project set up by Elizabeth Stokes and Chelsea Jade Metcalf, who perform in order to make enough money for a vegetarian dinner. They play outside a local Nike store, initially working through songs from Jenny Lewis’s Rabbit Fur Coat and improvising songs about people passing by. Before the project develops further, they are booked by Dave Parker, who produces the first release, Forest Fiction, and they make their first performance at the Spegieltent for the AK07 festival.

After Talita Setyady joins on upright bass, the group develops a style built around guitar melodies and three-part harmonies. Their songs include ‘Lily’s Eyes’, a Harry Potter-themed song, and tracks from Forest Fiction such as ‘Magic’, which appears on Real Groove’s Awesome Feeling III compilation and in a Massey University television advert. Other songs named in connection with the release include ‘Wave At Me From Across The Sea’, ‘Mon Petit Poisson Avec Beats’ and ‘Patches’. The act also opens for José González, Cat Power and Kimya Dawson, and performs with artists including Lawrence Arabia, Artisan Guns and Bear Cat.

English folk act

The English Teacups is an a cappella folk group based around the voices of Alex Cummings, Kate Locksley, Rosie Calvert and William Finn. The quartet performs on the UK festival circuit and appears at Shepley Spring Festival, Beverley Folk Festival and Warwick Folk Festival. Its debut album, One For The Pot, presents traditional and contemporary songs from across the British Isles and beyond in arranged vocal settings. Tracks mentioned from the album include ‘As I Roved Out’, ‘Lincolnshire Poacher’, ‘Ripples’ and ‘Country Life’.