In 2019, Amy Thatcher (Kathryn Tickell, The Shee, Monster Ceilidh Band) released her Solo. As the name implies, this was her solo debut release, described in our Folk Radio review as “a playful, whimsical exploration of the accordion, full of beautiful, quirky melodies, unexpected rhythmic turns and an overall sense of joy and spontaneity. It’s also a deeply personal work, with various tunes inspired by friends and life events.”
This week, Amy returns with a new solo EP offering, Let What’s In, Out (out 17 Nov). Like the intentional title of her debut, her new EP title is equally telling, a cathartic offering – one in which she shares her experience of being a mother to premature babies on which she talks more on below.
Taken from the new EP, Look At You Now shines a spotlight on the experiences of parenthood with premature babies, which will be released tomorrow on World Prematurity Day (17th November). However, where the magic happens is in the notes. There are no words, yet Amy’s chosen musical notes are both telling and moving. They carry the weight of expectation and uncertainty in the first half. The repeated piano refrain and rhythmic percussive clicks mark the ticking passage of time and build that intensity – it places the listener ‘in the moment’. Then, halfway through, we hear Amy’s accordion for the first time; the notes she plays are so moving that they can mark only one thing, the arrival of her twins. The tune plays out to Amy humming a lullaby.
Listening and watching this video is an incredibly emotional experience. That she has been able to convey so much weight and meaning without the use of words is remarkable; yes, it is heartfelt, but it’s also so profoundly intuitive. Look At You Now is also our Song of the Day.
That deep emotion is so beautifully accentuated in the accompanying new video, which you can watch below. There will be a special live launch event tomorrow at High Bridge Works in Newcastle for World Prematurity Day.
As Amy prepares to launch the track into the world, her hope is to share it as widely as possible to reach out to other parents of premature babies and show that their experiences are heard and understood.
In an effort to give back, Amy is also taking the opportunity to fundraise for Bliss, a charity that helps to give premature babies the best possible start in life.
Attendees at the live launch event in Newcastle can buy a copy of Amy’s EP, Let What’s In Out, with 50% of the money being donated to Bliss.
Amy is also running an online fundraiser at: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amyaccordion
Look At You Now was inspired by Amy’s own deeply personal experiences of giving birth to her twin babies 11 weeks early. She was away in Germany on tour with The Shee when she felt that something wasn’t right. After heading to the hospital to get checked out, her babies were born just three days later. It was a surreal time with a rollercoaster of emotions, as Amy explains:
“I didn’t know how to feel. It was the uncertainty in the few days before the birth, with both the prematurity of it and the unfamiliarity of the hospital, the different protocols and the upset to your routine. Once they were born, I felt so grateful that they were being looked after so well, and lucky to be where we were. At 10 weeks and 6 days early, Gwen at 1370g and Jay at 1450g were born on 26th October 2019 and were, considering the circumstances, very healthy. They then spent the first 52 days of their life in Berlin. It’s hard to describe all my feelings about the time I spent over there but seemingly all at the same time, it was an anxious, stressful, exciting, adventurous, romantic, content and bloody lovely two months!”
Over time, having processed these experiences, Amy realised she wanted to express these feelings through her music, and she got writing in 2021. Speaking about how she got started, she says:
“A little tune that I used to hum to Gwen and Jay on the ward came back to mind, and I felt I was ready to share my experience of being a mother to premature babies in the best way I know how – with notes, not words. As hard as I try, words cannot fully describe all my feelings, then or now.
“Parenthood is demanding of your time and your energy but it also denies you of you – whatever made you feel like you has taken a back seat. That is a really hard thing to endure consistently for a year. The phrase “Let What’s In, Out” has become my one very simple rule for relearning how to be me, be creative and be at peace with my identity. Mothering three children is something I enjoy doing, but I also enjoy my passion which is making and performing music. I have learnt, with some struggle, to make time for that.“
Look At You Now is an instrumental track, allowing Amy to share her own experience of having premature twins whilst leaving space for others to experience the music in their own way. It expresses the uncertainty and turmoil of the days leading up to the twins’ birth before moving to a gently lulling and embracing tune, focusing on the very essence of motherhood. At its heart, Look At You Now is about perspective and reflection. Amy says:
“In circumstances like that, each event is gradually unfolded to you one at a time – the emergency, the uncertainty, the waiting, then the very real and solid babies that seem to suddenly appear! Finally, all that fades away, and you’re just like every other mother – trying to gently lull them to sleep.“
More here: https://amythatcher.co.uk/