Swaddling Songs

Mellow Candle was a progressive rock/folk rock band. Principally Irish, the members were also unusually young with Clodagh Simonds being only 15 while Alison Bools (later O’Donnell) and Maria White only 16 years old. All three were still attending school at the time of their first single Feelin’ High that was released in 1968 on Simon Napier-Bell’s SNB Records label. By 1972, the lineup had expanded to include Dave Williams on guitar, Frank Boylan on bass, and William Murray on drums. With this lineup in place, the band released their only album, Swaddling Songs (Deram Records), which was commercially unsuccessful at the time. Over the years, however, the lone album by the band has received considerable critical acclaim and original vinyl copies are now very valuable. Boylan was later replaced by Steve Borrill (ex-Spirogyra), but shortly afterwards the band split up.