As I walk along the ancient paths, alongside old hedgerow boundaries, and over buried pasts, it’s not difficult to let the mind drift and imagine earlier times. A landscape’s sense of place can have a strong effect on an individual, it can heighten the senses, lift and lighten the mood of a day in much the same way as music can.
That sense of place plays a large part in Lammas Fair, the new album from Henry Parker, especially the beautifully flowing, rolling hills and valleys of his hometown, the Aire Valley in West Yorkshire. “The landscape here is definitely ingrained into who I am as a person and as a musician,” he says. “What I love most is the combination of the high, wide open, heather moors and the contrast they provide with the dense mill towns down below. There’s something very special about being able to walk from the built-up valley bottom, from Bingley and then up onto the tops of the moors which are bleak and yet littered with rock carvings, outcrops and ring cairns.”
Parker last graced us with his Silent Spring album in 2019, named after Rachel Carson’s momentous book which has left an enduring legacy and is considered by many to be the most important environmental book of the Twentieth Century.
As you can hear on the album’s title track Lammas Fair below, Parker has clearly evolved his style. While it’s distinctly his own, there is a stronger engaging quality at play here and it is built on influences throughout his life, one that’s aptly described as a meeting between 60s and 70s folk music, the northern moorland landscape and the heavy metal background of his childhood.
Earlier this month, I was walking the surrounding hills where I live and noticed a plume of dust rising across a field…the first harvests were underway. Traditionally, Lammas is a high summer celebration of the first harvest of the year which is followed by Mabon or the Autumn Equinox and Samhain, the final harvest.
The title Lammas Fair refers to a historical annual celebration held across Europe on the 1st of August, which heralded the first harvest of wheat -Lammas Day = Loaf Mass Day. The festival has its roots in the pagan Feast of Lughnasadh which celebrated the Celtic sun God Lugh.
The album itself is “about observing change,” says Parker. There’s a strong sense of celebration woven through the title track, from Parker’s confident-sounding rich vocals to the beautiful and melodically sweeping guitar which feels both modern and ancient, especially when played to the backdrop of landscape visuals on the accompanying video below (filmed by Danny Hardaker, Kurt Wood, Henry Parker and Silas Parker).
Parker says “There’s joyous harvest revellers at the site of ‘Lammas Fair’”. Like those revellers, Parker’s own music lies in both the past and present and with performances like this, there’s plenty to celebrate for the future.
Lammas Fair is also our Song of the Day.
Lammas Fair is an album of transformation, movement and fluidity. One that encompasses landscapes, nature and wilderness and intertwines them with stories and characters that brings those places bursting to life. Much like the flow of water from the hills to the local towns near Parker…Lammas Fair is an album that travels seamlessly, connecting worlds along the way.
Pre-Order Lammas Fair
Lammas Fair is released 5th November 2021 on Cup and Ring
Pre-Order it today (Digital/CD/Vinyl – including vinyl limited Edition): https://henryparker.bandcamp.com/album/lammas-fair
Upcoming Dates
24th September – Gainsborough (Lincolnshire) – Morton Village Hall
26th September – Deepdale (Norfolk) – Deepdale Festival
21st October – Halifax – The Grayston Unity
31st October – Leeds – Hyde Park Book Club (Hyde Park Folk Festival)
More on Henry Parker:
https://henryparkermusic.co.uk/
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | patreon.com