It’s funny how some music instantly resonates with you, evokes a distant memory or a place. Campbell Sibthorpe recently headed to Cadbury Hill in North Somerset for a live recording of Father Carpenter, a single he released earlier this month. The fuller sound of his single which included drums and guitars are here stripped away to just a simple pump organ, the lyrics laid bare.
The feeling I got upon hearing this particular performance was immense, it drew me in as he shared what is a coming-of-age folktale and ode to his father who kindled a love for living off the land. It’s strange how doing less can increase the potency of a song – but then that’s the sign of a good songwriter surely? In the case of Campbell Sibthorpe, this is one of the most moving songs I’ve heard in a long time but it took a trip up a hill for me to be able to hear that.
The song is inspired by his father carving the initials of a friend’s name into a tree at his thirteenth birthday party, the song speaks of a desire to understand one’s place within the landscape and what it means to make a mark, as Sibthorpe describes “carving a name has always been a significant act of love to show someone that they’re kin”.
Proving it’s a small world, over an exchange of emails in which I explained I used to live close by to Cadbury Hill he explained “Cadbury Hill is just over the road from me, so growing up we’d head to the woods after school to make fires and try and replicate anything I’d seen Ray Mears do the night before.”
These old places, which in the case of Cadbury Hill is the site of an Iron Age hill fort, often provide visitors with that sense of suspension of the modern world. It’s easy to forget, for a while at least, the frantic pace of life you may have been in thirty minutes earlier. It calls to mind the Japanese term Shirin-yoku – “taking in the forest atmosphere”, it’s a rewarding pursuit, as is this song, with a setting and delivery that takes his music to another level.
https://youtu.be/AsfQVs9bVRU
The track is taken from his forthcoming EP Ytown, which chronicles a commute through adolescence in a small country village.
I’m looking forward to hearing more.
https://www.campbellsibthorpe.com/