Bramble, from Spell Songs II: Let The Light in

‘Bramble’ from Spell Songs II: Let The Light In Released December 2021 Featuring Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter, Jim Molyneux. Inspired by the creatures, art and language in the acclaimed The Lost Words and The Lost Spells books by renowned author Robert Macfarlane and award-winning artist Jackie Morris. The streets are choked with briar... The Bramble spell in The Lost Words, written in 2017, presages the first COVID lockdown in an unnerving fashion, with its images of snarled cars, locked doors and closed shutters. Me and my daughter spent much of Spring 2020 excavating the thorny nether regions of our back garden, where the vast coiling bramble briars were thick as fifty pence pieces in places. We picked fruit all through that summer and into autumn too, not only brambles but raspberries, elderberries, sloes and sea buckthorn. There are such gifts in the tangle of it. In Robert’s original text, millions of moths make the air flutter. But they’re not the only winged creatures conjured here. Julie speaks in the voice of Smeòrach, the Song Thrush, a gorgeous example of Gaelic birdsong mimesis. Karine Polwart BRAMBLE – featuring Karine Polwart the streets are choked with briar the cars are coiled over lock all the doors and close the shutters the air flutters the streets are choked with briar the houses looped in wire lock all the doors and close the shutters the air flutters the thorn arches along the hedges the thorn marches along the parks on the city edges the thorn arches along the hedges the thorn marches along the parks on the city edges the streets are cloaked in briar where sings a feathered choir open the doors unfold the shutters the air … open the doors unfold the shutters the air flutters Filmed and edited in the wilds of Exmoor by Christopher and Davina Jelley, Seven Fables. Additional editing by Elly Lucas To learn more about Spell Songs go to www.thelostwords.org/spell-songs Order now Spell Songs II: Let The Light In now from: All Retail US and ROW: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii All Retail UK/EU: https://ffm.to/spellsongsii-eu Spotify: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/spotify iTunes: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/itunes Apple: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/apple Deezer: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/deezer Amazon: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/amazon Pandora: https://orcd.co/spellsongsii/pandora