The traditional folk song John Barleycorn has been reinterpreted on commission by Minnie Birch to soundtrack the film Heaven’s Rage – based on the novel of the same name by author Leslie Tate. The music video was created using footage from the film, which was directed and produced by Mark Crane. Together, Minnie Birch and Cian Davis deliver a refreshing yet haunting and alternative take on this well known British Folksong.
This track is half of a self-released AA single due out on 13th July and features Cian Davis of Molly and the Beekeepers on guest vocals. Minnie told us that the guest vocals really made it something special. “I just felt the track needed another haunting vocal because the song is all about the many demons of alcoholism and the different lives the protagonist’s lives, the different sides of himself he feels he can or can’t show to people so it made sense for me to add another vocal.”
Heaven’s Rage, the short film and novel, is a memoir that explores addiction, cross-dressing, bullying and the hidden sides of families, discovering at their core the transformative power of words to rewire the brain and reconnect with life. It is by turn an elegy for a lost childhood, a tribute to the power of literature and a demand for the right to identity in a world that turns too easily on those who differ from the conventional.
Minnie Birch is a Hertfordshire based singer-songwriter who puts her energy into her solo music career as well as working creatively with prisoners to both develop their musical skills and provide recordings for their children back home. She has had much critical acclaim for her two albums, Floundering and Tethered, and has even had a BBC Radio 1 play from Huw Stephens for her single Glitter in 2013.
ON the new release John Barleycorn Minnie added “It was an honour to be asked to work on a track for Mark’s ‘Heaven’s Rage’. Although he references Traffic’s version of the song, I was, of course, excited that it would be an opportunity to look at a more traditional folk song but be allowed to do something very ‘Minnie’ with it, as that is what he asked for.
“I was in the middle of making my album with producer Lauren Deakin Davies and we took a day out of album-tracking to work on the song. It was actually a really hard process to get right. Mark was so in love with the demo version I had recorded on my phone but we needed a studio quality track to put on the final film, so we were really trying to capture the most polished version of a very rough emotional song – it was a tricky balance.
“I think Lauren found Mark’s desire for a lack of perfection went against her usual ways of wanting to record something and we worked a few versions of the song before arriving at a final version We did the guitar and vocal together as a live take and I think she did a great job of capturing the emotion of the track. Cian had very little time with the track before we threw him in the studio but I think that fitted with the ‘raw’ nature of what we were trying to capture. Lauren is very skilled at making people feel comfortable in the studio so she was the ideal producer for us to work with on something with such a short deadline and which we’d had such little time to compose together.
“We did the work on the song for free and I paid for the studio time myself and Cian’s expenses out of my album budget as I knew Mark’s project didn’t have much money in it. He said he’d make me a music video to go with the track as a thank you. I had no idea how beautifully crafted and edited it would be. I was proud of the song and planned to release it in some way so more people could hear it and thought about it being a ‘B’side to an album single release but the visual he has made and the collaborative element of this song with myself, Lauren, Mark and Cian has led me to really want to get this track out there for more people to hear. It is very special I think.”
Heaven’s Rage is attracting a lot of attention and has been selected for many film festivals this year accolades include a nomination for Flyde Film Festival 2018 for Best Drama, Semi-Finalist at Weird Wednesdays DE, Germany, ‘Official Selection’ for Art in Equality Film Festival, Walkerville Film Festival, Indie filmmaker showcase, Semi-finalist in The Shortest Nights (Short-sighted cinema), Nominated best film Bute Street Festival UK, Nominated Best Cinematography – James Melrose, Best LGBTQI Subject and Winner of Best Experimental Film at the Jim Thorpe Film Festival, USA, Nominated Best Cinematic Writing – Mark Crane & Leslie Tate, Blackbird Film Fest, Cortland USA.
Heaven’s Rage is also being shown as part of Liverpool’s Pride Festival selected for Best LGBTQ short film category, DCI Café & Gallery 67-69 Seaside Road, Eastbourne, BN213PL 7.00pm July 19th, Louder than Words Festival, Nov 10th. St Ives Literary festival, The Macro Project Film Festival and more.