The anticipated new single ‘Utopia’ from award-winning folk musician Zoë Bestel hailed as “one of Scotland’s most fascinating young singer-songwriters” is set to release November 11th. Zoë headlines the Glad Cafe on November 20th (+ Robin Adams – tickets).
‘Utopia’ emerged, Bestel says, from feeling lost during lockdown without a garden in a top-floor flat of a Glasgow tenement, and yearning for her grassroots in Dumfries and Galloway. She began research into sustainable agriculture, permaculture and traditional methods of stewarding land as a response to climate anxiety.
“I feel deeply that important issues are emboldened when entwined and understood with art, so my intention was to write a blueprint of hope for a world anxiously affected by climate breakdown, and ecological destruction. I believe nature has tools to heal and we have the intelligence to pay attention, therefore immense opportunities, with the ability to change, not just to avoid catastrophe, but to flourish harmoniously within the natural ecosystem. For the sake of everyone and everything.”
Zoë’s intricate fingerpicked guitar pattern and Conor Smith’s accompanying double bass open the track set the scene…far removed from any claustrophobic cityscape. However, it’s Zoë’s ethereal and delicate-sounding vocals that transport you, adding weight to her dreams of a world which is in touch with nature. Roo Geddes’s violin and Gavin Lamont’s percussion all add to the sensuousness of the song. A perfect song for our times.
You can also watch Zoë live online on 16 November on Youtube here.