Martin Simpson announces his new album Skydancers (Topic Records) and shares a stunning video for the title track (out today), made in collaboration with Ballet Folk and Studio Bokego.
On Martin Simpson‘s 2020 Home Recordings, the intimacy and simplicity that ran through his live home recording was heightened by a serendipitous moment during the recording of the second track, Lonesome Valley Geese, when, as if on cue, geese flew across. As Glenn Kimpton put it in his review, the end of the track “comes complete with honking geese and a thrilled Martin (‘Ha! Geese!’) nearly tripping over the tune in his excitement.” It was a telling moment, reminding those who follow Martin that alongside being an acclaimed guitarist, singer-songwriter and storyteller, he is also incredibly passionate about nature, especially for the varied birdlife we enjoy in the British Isles.
I can only guess, but I imagine that he is totally over the moon to be calling his forthcoming new album Skydancers, the name given to Hen Harrier. Anyone who has witnessed the rollercoaster display flight of the male bird will understand how it got its name. Sadly, the number of breeding pairs in the UK, especially on the driven grouse moors of England and Scotland, has been in steep decline due to the illegal killing of the birds that are poisoned, shot and trapped. This album will hopefully raise awareness of their plight and need for protection.
‘Skydancers’ will be released on April 12th on the legendary Topic Records label, which also marks its 85th anniversary this year. We are given our first glimpse of the title track today, accompanied by a stunning video that was co-directed by John Slemensek-Thorne and Deborah (Norris) Ward and shot against the breath-taking natural beauty of West Yorkshire’s Pennistone Hill, the video for ‘Skydancers’ masterfully brings the concept, and plight, of the ‘skydancer’ to life.
The inspiration for the song, Martin shares with us, first came from a chance evening in his back garden with neighbour & Sheffield legend Richard Hawley. As they sat drinking on a beautiful evening, upon seeing birds flying past, Simpson recalls, “Richard turned to me and said, ‘The bird completes the skyline’…my mouth fell open and I said, ‘Richard, you bastard’, to which he said, ‘No, it’s okay. You can have it.’” Immediately, Martin wrote the line in his little black book of lyrics and ideas. Later, when TV presenter and naturalist Chris Packham commissioned Martin to make a track for Hen Harrier Day (which draws awareness to the illegal hunting of these beloved birds that are poisoned, shot and trapped on grouse moors), Martin, a keen ornithologist, opened his book and the line became the foundation of the chorus and the spiritual centre of the song.
From verse to verse, Simpson paints a picture of the landscape and reminisces on his past experiences with other majestic birds to “demonstrate that we can actually bring back these creatures that we are in danger of completely destroying” and to directly address the “wasteful cruelty” of these illegal hunters, who set fire to peat bogs that release massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and destroy the land in the process. On writing the track, Martin shares that “it was a very strange process to try and turn [these ideas] into something that was poetic and song-like, but I think ‘Skydancers’ does that. I’m proud of it.”
Made in collaboration with Ballet Folk and Studio Bokego, the video for ‘Skydancers’ weaves together stunning aerial shots of these moors with the incredible work of dancer Anna Smith. As the song crescendos, the camera cranes across the sky to evoke the experience and the plight of this endangered and persecuted animal. The concept for the video came from a performance as part of Folk On Foot’s The Big Walk, in which Anna joined Martin for the song during his performance and went on to do the same on stage at 2023’s Folk East festival in Suffolk.
About Skydancers video
In the Summer of 2023, Matthew Bannister of Folk on Foot set off on ‘The Big Walk’ to continue his fundraising for musicians. Coincidentally, one of the musical events on the route was at The Forresters, Ascot, 100 yards from the director of Ballet Folk’s home. Martin Simpson was going to be playing there, so director Deborah Norris and dancer Anna Smith suggested a pop-up performance. Martin was kind enough to agree and for Anna to dance to his song ‘Skydancers’. To a room full of unsuspecting people, Anna joined Martin and improvised a short sketch to the song, which was so beautiful that Martin invited Anna to perform with him at Folk East, where Ballet Folk was performing their work ‘The Tears of Jenny Greenteeth’.
After this performance, Martin and Deborah spoke of creating a film for the song’s release, and this project came to fruition.
Taking to West Yorkshire’s beautiful Pennistone Hill, Haworth, Anna, Deborah and filmmaker John Slemensek-Thorne of Studio Bokego, the creative team crafted a narrative inspired by the lyrics and beautiful phrasing of Martin’s song.
As we mourn the illegal persecution/destruction of the Hen-Harriers and other birds of prey, for the sport of grouse-hunting, the film depicts the grey skyline, the purple heather, and the burning of the moors.
A lone woman searches the skies for the birds, feeling the stone and earth, her movements depict the flight of the birds, the small articulate hand gestures picking at the lines in the movement, and the tension found in the loss of these beautiful native birds from the English landscape.
The costume, inspired by those worn by the Bronte sisters, as they walked the moors, a simple tweed brown colour, to depict the camouflage of the female hen-harrier in comparison to that of the male birds blue-grey plumage, which contrasts the light grey sky on a spring day.
The film is remiss of a single bird on the skyline and what a lesser skyline it is for it.
Skydancers, his 12th full-length solo record for Topic since 1992, comes hot on the heels of last year’s guest-packed collaboration with the American producer/guitarist Thomm Jutz, ‘Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry.’ Recorded by Tom Wright and Andy Bell in Simpson’s hometown of Sheffield, Skydancers collects new, Simpson-penned originals alongside 18th-century broadside ballads and reverent reworkings from the songbooks of, amongst others, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Woody Guthrie, Nancy Kerr, June Tabor and Craig Johnson.
‘Skydancers,’ the single, is available to stream and download on all digital platforms from today. The forthcoming album of the same name will be available on double CD/vinyl/download/stream on April 12th, 2024.
Pre-order here: https://martinsimpson.lnk.to/skydancers
Tour Dates: https://martinsimpson.com/gigs/