Lost Harbours is an experimental free folk collective based between Riga, Latvia and Southend-On-Sea, UK. The project was originally launched by singer/guitarist Richard Thompson (not to be confused with the Folk legend and ex-Fairporter), joined by Emma Reed on flute, clarinet and guitar, and for their new album, Towers of Silence, Diana Collier (The Owl Service, Greanvine) and Sabine Moore joined with additional vocals. Currently, the live band is Richard with Sabine on vocals, violin and electronics. The single, Lake, is released on today, preceding the release of the Towers of Silence album on 6th October 2017.
Following pan-European mythological strands, both the song and video was inspired by the Orkney Finfolk mythology, the Selkies and the Czech poem Vodník (The Water Sprite), where spirits lured the unwary to their realm. It was shot over two summers in Latvia and England by the artist, and Lost Harbours band member, Sabine Moore, who has also created music videos for Dmitry Distant and Ansamblis Manta.
Towers of Silence is a mixture of original compositions by the ensemble, and a couple of well-known folk traditionals. It features deft fingerpicking guitar work, mantric vocals and sprawling, sometimes caustic sound worlds. On the subject of what inspired the album’s title, and simultaneously encapsulating the dark subtexts of the band’s output, Richard says “A Tower of Silence is a place for ritualistic sky burial, a platform upon which the body is laid in order for it to be picked apart by carrion eaters”.
Download the single here: https://liminalnoiserecords.bandcamp.com/track/lost-harbours-lake-digital-single