"arte povera brilliance" - Edward Henderson, The Wire Magazine
Click here to stream the album.
FIVE ENGLISH FOLK SONGS is a collection of marginal traditional singing techniques and songs dug out by Neil and Mimi. These five songs all explore magical forms of communication with non-human energies; Flora, Fauna, Deities, The Dead, and the Quasi-Dead. The idea that song, and the performance of song have some kind of efficacy or sympathy beyond the realm of living humans is an idea that lives and thrives in places far flung from this cluster of mild islands, but has gotten lost and buried in 21st century Western empiricalness. We hope this opens some windows for you.
Some liberties have been taken with interpretation; melodies swapped out, lyrics changed, structures altered, sounds invented, stories retold, truths averted.
FIVE ENGLISH FOLK SONGS has been performed live at Schloss Solitude and Cafe Oto. It was reimagined for a performance with Ensemble Ascolta at Sommer in Stuttgart in summer 2023. You can watch the new ensemble version below.