We’re delighted to let you know that the much anticipated Spell Songs follow-up album is available to pre-order now and will be officially released into the wild on December 10th.
Spell Songs II: Let The Light In is born out of the same heartfelt concerns that informed the artwork and poetry within these two books, namely, the loss of our natural world, the need for a more compassionate view of the wild and a determination that there is still hope.
Reunited in April 2021, after multiple pandemic postponements, the Spell Singers eagerly joined Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane at Greta Hall (once home to Samuel Taylor Coleridge) in the heart of the Lake District to begin their second collaborative residency. Each song may have originated within the hearts of one or two of the musicians, but through communal creative respect and generous musicianship these acorns of ideas were soon turned into truly collaborative works resulting in a stunning and unique album.
Andy Bell, the producer for both albums, witnessed the creation of each song during both residentials. This gave him a unique understanding of their origins. When it came to the recording process at Rockfield Studio and for the second album, Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, he was ideally placed to express the true beauty of all of the songs. The finished albums are timeless and accomplished and have a deep presence that will soar straight to your heart and stay there.
These songs are infused with folk, world, experimental, rock, alt-country, classical and traditional elements which capture the essence of the ‘Lost’ books. Spoken voice, whispers, accents, dialects, native languages, birdsong, the bark of foxes, the soft sound of a moth’s wing, the sound of a children’s climate strike; all increase the intimacy and power of the musical world conjured by the Spell Songs band.
Describing the collaborative process Rob and Jackie write:
“We feel lucky beyond words to have been given the chance to work with such astonishing people…. with the musicians each bringing strands of word and song and image, then weaving them together by ear, in the air . . . it all seemed a profound gift to us both…’
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
The Spell Songs ensemble will be on tour in January and February 2022, with festival appearances in Summer also.