Olivia Chaney brings trad folk to the masses in “Wuthering Heights”
Feature
Kings Place Artist in Residence Olivia Chaney’s new single, ‘Dark Eyed Sailor’, features at the heart of Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights”, standing bravely amongst the film’s original soundtrack. Hear it live from her first Hall One headline of 2026.
As one of London’s premier Folk venues, we know that nothing expresses deep yearning quite like a trad folk ballad. So, imagine how pleased we were to hear that acclaimed director Emerald Fennell would feature one in her latest feature film, “Wuthering Heights”. And then imagine our excitement when we heard that our Artist in Residence for 2026, Olivia Chaney, would be the one to deliver that ballad to the big screen.
Olivia Chaney’s haunting recording of the 19th-century trad song, ‘Dark Eyed Sailor’, features at a pivotal point in Fennell’s new feature film, and it’s been a hit with audiences, who’ve been revering and sampling the heartbreaking song online since the film’s release this February.
As part of her sold-out Hall One headline show this February, she played the song live for the first time since the film’s release, alongside her glamorous new folk rock band, News from Nowhere.
Olivia Chaney’s Residency as part of Memory Unwrapped, our year-long cross-genre curation of music, sound and spoken word, continues throughout 2026. In June, Chaney presents a major new project celebrating her lifelong love of Henry Purcell’s music, followed by a programme of original compositions in the autumn. Her residency offers a vivid portrait of an artist in evolution, reshaping history through voice, storytelling and sound.