Edgelarks is the title of Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin’s forthcoming album. As well as being their fourth studio album, it also marks the genesis of a brand new band name, one that reflects both of the members of the duo and how they see where they are coming from. We caught up with them to talk about the change and their new album at Cropredy:
Tell me about the whys and the wherefores of the name change?
Phil: “It’s something we’ve been planning for a few years. We’ve struggled at length with comperes getting our names wrong when we’re being introduced. Which is quite embarrassing for them and for us. So, we wanted something shorter, more memorable and we’d come up with this name for the album, and the concept of the album, ‘liminality’. Which I’m sure we’ll come to in a minute. And Edgelarks just felt like the right word. To represent what we do as well as the album. We feel like our music and our kind of life is slightly on the periphery of normal society.”
Hannah: “A lot of the songs we sing are about people who are liminal or marginal as well.”
Phil: “So, it felt like the right move. Currently, we’re doing more stuff abroad as well, we’re starting to play in Canada and Australia and it really helps when approaching a new market to have a short name that people remember. People often say, oh, you’re that duo we really like, but we’ve no idea what you’re called. And of late people have been saying to us, you’re that duo – Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage. One dobro player, one singer, if she’s called Hannah and he plays the dobro that’s all it needs to confuse people. And there are so many duos with just their names now. It will help us to be a bit separate.”
Hannah: “And also, I think there’s a phenomenon on the folk scene where duo seems to have become a category. And we like to think that it’s about the music. So whether there are 2 people or 3 or 4, yes, it will vary the music, but it’s all still the music. I don’t really understand why duo is a specific category. So, we’re hoping that having more of a band name will enable us to be a bit more flexible. Rather than keep us in that box we can do a show and usually it will just be the two of us but if we needed to invite someone else or if we had a friend in town who played something that works, we could have a little bit more flexibility on that front.”
You came up with the name for the album and it fitted the mood, can you explain a bit more about that?
Hannah: “First came the songs, or most of them. It’s funny how you can go through a phase of writing and then see a common thread, without realising it was there. And what I realised was that most of the songs were about some kind of marginal or liminal characters. Someone who’s passing through 2 different phases or travelling or refugees, that kind of idea of borders being crossed. All that kind of thing. And so that became the thread. But liminal is a very interesting term but also not a very catchy one to use. It’s probably one that many people wouldn’t actually understand. It’s an academic term, I probably first heard it when I was doing my degree. I think, originally, the academic word meant a stage in some kind of ritual or rite, when someone has shed their old identity but not yet taken on their new one. A very specific anthropological term but it’s definitely broadened out to mean people who are in between things or stages or thresholds. Which is a lovely broad concept.”
And I think there’s a usage, in an environmental sense, for organisms that occupy habitats on both sides of a boundary. So, a lot of mileage in it.
Hannah: “Exactly. All the interesting things happen at those places of transition.”
Is the album ready to go?
Hannah: “It’s done, yeah. Being released on the 6th October. You always end up with this strange liminal stage, when you’ve made an album and you’ve not yet released it. You end up hanging around, you’re really eager to tell people about it, without being able to show them it properly.”
Phil: “We’re currently in the PR build-up stage but we’re taking pre-orders online.”
Upcoming tours?
Phil: “A big tour for the album.”
Hannah: “Starts on the 5th October, goes well into November and then we go to the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium also in November. Then we launch it in Australia in January.”
Phil: “Confirmed for Woodford Festival.”
Hannah: “It’s all very exciting. We’ve heard a lot about it. Never been before. I’m a bit concerned as to how we’ll cope with the heat. I was talking to Nancy Kerr about it, she and James played it for many years. She was saying that it can be quite tough. A wonderful experience but you have to go around with all your clothes wet otherwise you get too hot. Can’t really imagine that, can we?”
People in southern Europe had to do that this summer
Phil: “Yes, we had it quite bad at Glastonbury.”
Hannah: “And that was only 30°! I just had to lie in the shade and not move until we did our gig.”
Anything more you can tell me about the album?
Phil: “A slight change of tack with the production, I co-produced it with John Elliott from The Little Unsaid. Quite an experimental producer and writer. That’s brought a different dimension to the production, he’s quite into electronica.”
Hannah: “Our last album being specifically a band album, this one was specifically a duo album. With the writing process and the way we perform it. But with John on board, recording the album, it almost became a trio, he did a lot of piano and he played all the drums. And he’s also very good at the electronica stuff, sampling. I really love the way he’s taken literal interpretations of the songs. There’s one called Iceberg and he’s got a sample of ice breaking and he’s turned that into the percussion on the song.”
Phil: “He did all his own recording for the samples.”
Hannah: “Yes, he found some ice in a puddle, broke it and recorded it. I really love that. And there’s one song called Song of the Jay and he’s created a drone out of the actual song of a jay.”
Exciting times ahead.
Watch their new video for Song of the Jay below:
The Californian Bush Jay has been observed by scientists to give “funerals” for other birds – gathering and giving a special call, known as a “scold” – regardless of species.
THE EDGELARKS TOUR
*with very special guest The Little Unsaid
**with very special guest Tobias ben Jacob
05/10 Marlborough Folk Roots*
Marlborough Town Hall, 5 High Street, Marlborough, SN8 1AA
www.marlboroughfolk-roots.co.uk / 01672 512465
06/10 Album Launch: Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6ED*
www.dartingtonhall.com / 01803 847070
07/10 St Mary’s Hall, Appledore, N. Devon*
Churchfields Rd, Appledore, Bideford EX39 1RL
07816 400925
10/10 National Centre for Early Music, York*
St Margarets Church, Walmgate, York YO1 9TL
www.ncem.co.uk / 01904 658338
11/10 The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge*
Holme St, Hebden Bridge HX7 8EE
www.thetradesclub.com / 01422 845265
12/10 Garstang Unplugged, Lancashire*
The Kenlis Arms, Ray Lane, Barnacre, Garstang, PR3 1GD
www.garstangunplugged.com / 01995 602795
13/10 Forum Studio Theatre, Chester*
Hamilton Place, Chester CH1 2BH
www.tiptopproductions.co.uk / 01244 341296
14/10 L2F Festival, Lichfield
Lichfield Guildhall, Bore Street, Lichfield WS13 6NU
www.lichfieldarts.org.uk / 01543 262223
18/10 Brewhouse Theatre & Arts Centre, Taunton*
Coal Orchard, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1JL
www.thebrewhouse.net / 01823 283244
19/10 Komedia, Bath*
22-23 Westgate Street, Bath BA1 1EP
www.komedia.co.uk/bath / 01225 489070
21/10 Manchester Folk Festival (supporting Tom Robinson)
HOME, Tony Wilson Place, First Street, off Whitworth St. West, M15 4FN
www.manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk / 0161 200 1500
27/10 Jubilee Hall, Market Harborough*
Bowden Lane, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 7JD
www.amgigs.co.uk / 01858 525 179
28/10 The Ropewalk, Barton Upon Humber*
Maltkiln Road, Barton Upon Humber, N.Lincs, DN18 5JT
www.roperyhall.co.uk / 01652 660380
01/11 The Stables, Milton Keynes*
Stockwell Lane, Wavendon, Milton Keynes, Bucks., MK17 8LU
www.thestables.org.uk / 01908 280800
02/11 Album Launch: The Sound Lounge, London*
210-212 Upper Tooting Road, London SW17 7EW
www.thesoundlounge.org.uk / 0208 543 9555
03/11 Wokingham Concerts*
All Saints Church, Wokingham, RG40 1UE
www.wokinghamconcerts.co.uk/ /
https://allsaintswokingham.yapsody.com/
04/11 Bubble Club at The Marlowe, Canterbury*
The Marlowe Studio, The Friars, Canterbury, CT1 2AS
http://www.thebubbleclub.co.uk/
07/11 Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham**
Little High Street, Shoreham by Sea, W.Sussex, BN43 5EG
www.ropetacklecentre.co.uk / 01273 464440
08/11 Applegarth Farm, Headley Road, Grayshott, Hampshire, GU26 6JL
01428 725276 / stuart@handsontohealth.com
Tickets are £32, which includes a three-course meal.
09/11 Anteros Arts Foundation, Norwich**
7 Fye Bridge Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1LJ
www.anterosfoundation.com / 01603 456 731
10/11 The Painswick Centre, Stroud**
Bisley Street, Painswick, Stroud, Gloucs. GL6 6QQ
www.painswickcentre.com / 07596 823 881
11/11 Somborne Sessions, Hampshire**
King’s Somborne Village Hall, off Romsey Road, Kings Somborne, Hants. SO20 6PP
www.sombornesessions.co.uk / 01794 388743
Edgelarks is released on 6th October via Dragonfly Roots / Proper Music Distribution and supported by an extensive UK Tour. For full details visit: www.philliphenryandhannahmartin.co.uk