Following the success of a wonderful live-stream concert, direct from the Natural History Museum, the Spell Songs ensemble is delighted to announce the release of a new album ‘The Lost Words: Spell Songs Volume II’ in mid-November 2021and a return to live performance in 2022.
As musicians and writers, we were gifted amazing source material in the words of Robert and the images of Jackie. So a huge part of its power comes from a solid rooted heartful place and I guess what makes it distinctive from the Lost Words and Lost Spells books is that its music.
Karine Polwart, Spell Songs Interview (Folk Radio UK)
The Lost Words: Spell Songs at the Natural History Museum, London, broadcast on April 27th, proved an awe-inspiring event that was live-streamed globally and dedicated to protecting the natural world. Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, authors of The Lost Words – the book that inspired the companion music project – and their second book, The Lost Spells, joined the musicians beneath the enormous skeleton of a blue whale (appropriately named ‘Hope’) in the iconic main Hintze Hall. Together, they called for a more environmentally enlightened future. To date, the concert has (so far) raised an amazing £90,000 for the Natural History Museum’s conservation charity #UrbanNatureProject.
Read our recent interview with the Spell Songs cast here.
Where Spell Songs power lies is in its mystery, it’s a lot of different things to a lot of different people but if you try to pin it down it’ll wriggle off through a hedgerow and snicker at you.
Kris Drever, Spell Songs Interview (Folk Radio UK)
“Nature isn’t just nice to have, it’s the linchpin of our very existence and ventures like the Urban Nature Project help the next generation develop the strong connection with nature that is needed to protect it.” Sir David Attenborough.
To view The Lost Words: Spell Songs at the NHM – available until 31st May, donations welcomed – visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkpK6610LRI
Responding both to The Lost Words and its recent companion volume, The Lost Spells, the seven remarkable musicians (Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux) who make up the ensemble are once again gathering together to record a follow-up to their critically acclaimed first release with an album of new songs: The Lost Words: Spell Songs Volume II. Born out of an intensive, creative week-long musical collaboration, this latest album will be released in mid-November 2021 …
… And it won’t be long to wait till there’s the chance to see and hear these astounding Spell Songs singers, accompanied by Jackie Morris painting live on stage with them, in real life on their 2022 UK tour.
…The other thing I would say about the live performances is there’s something which we’re all powerfully aware of now having not had the experience of live music for a year now, there’s something powerful about being emotionally vulnerable and touched in the company of other people in a room, it’s an irreplaceable experience. There’s something about being moved collectively that I think we’ve been able to capture in the live performances. So, it’s a very special project to all of us involved and we’re aware that much of that has to do with the quality of what we were offered and some of it has to with the happenstance, good fortune of just how these musicians, writers and people have collaborated and cooperated with each other.
Karine Polwart, Spell Songs Interview (Folk Radio UK)
The Lost Words: Spell Songs Live Dates 2022
Jan 27th Thu – Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall – 2 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G23NY
Jan 28th Fri – Perth, Concert Hall – Mill Street, Perth PH1 5HZ
Jan 29th Sat – Sage, Gateshead – St Mary’s Square, Gateshead NE8 2JR
Jan 30th Sun – Birmingham Symphony Hall – 8 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 2EA
Jan 31st Mon – Cadogan Hall, London – 5 Sloan Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ
Feb 1st Tue – Cadogan Hall, London – 5 Sloan Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ
More details and ticket links: https://www.thelostwords.org/live/
Photo Credit: Elly Lucas