SONGSTRESS and frontwoman to pop band Scarlet, Jessie Robinson, is encouraging music fans to support new artists in the wake of their debut album release.

Four-piece group Scarlet, led by the 26-year-old from Eccleston, released their first album ‘Effigy’ last year after crowdfunding more than £6,000 to fund it.

They had a crazy year from playing in front of “tens of thousands of people” at the Tbilisi Open Air Festival in Georgia to securing a licensing deal in Japan and have been added to several festival line-ups for 2017.

Now former De La Salle student Jessie, who has dedicated herself to pushing this band’s success forward, is encouraging others.

She said: “I feel so proud of our album and I know one day we will create better songs but I could not be happier right now.

“I wanted clean dreamy pop vocals and heavy guitars, a contrast between light and dark.

“That is why we decided to call it Effigy as the songs are all about being broken and trying to piece yourself together and change yourself to be seen as 'perfect' through someone else's eyes.

“My favourite track is different every day, but at the moment I think it’s Your Control, I just love the composition and how the last 40 seconds of the song changes and I think it sounds massive.

“However, my main goal, apart from pushing this album, is to encourage any artists in the town to work hard and show people that good does come from here.

“I want to show that lots of good things do come out of St Helens and that music and the arts plays a massive part in that.

“We need to maintain the creativity, be it acting, music or dance. our town is swarming with talent.

“People who can should go to local gigs and support their own and we should also inspire kids to try their best to be what they want to be, not what they think they should be.”

For more on the album visit soundcloud.com/jessiescarlet/tracks or visit their Facebook page at Scarletbanduk.