We last featured Brooke Sharkey in 2021 with her single Mmm Ja, a song inspired by new beginnings after relocating from the UK to Norway. If her new single, also our Song of the Day, is anything to go by, the move has been fortuitous on many levels.
On September 4th, Brooke Sharkey will release her new album ‘Under Stones‘, and she recently revealed the album’s first single ‘A place we go to‘, a contemplative song built upon our need for respite and calm in an increasingly tumultuous world, evoking friendship, with oneself, with others, nature and the natural environment. With the way that we are now constantly exposed to negativity and excessive news, it’s no wonder anxiety levels seems to be at an all time high in a society that seems to increase feelings of isolation. The need for connection, to others and nature has never been greater.
As mentioned before on KLOF, Sharkey, who was raised between France and England, is no stranger to a semi-nomadic life and from this background, she brings a unique perspective to her music. In a review of her 2014 album, I Crossed the Line, we highlighted how she effortlessly juxtaposes a lush intimacy with a huge sense of space in her music. She uses the sparseness of her guitar on ‘A place we go to’ to emphasise that same spaciousness…it’s like a slow calming breath.
She writes:
“As I walked to the pool, I heard the song of a bird in the small nearby forest. That day, I was in a hurry, but the call of this bird was so loud that I went into the forest and recorded the sound on my phone. A thunderstorm suddenly broke out, and it began to rain heavily. I was soaked from head to toe, but I didn’t mind. I wanted this encounter to be part of the song to remember this magical moment that reminds me of the beauty of the life around us and our ability to endure discomfort. It’s also a way to remember that we are never alone but constantly accompanied by other beings.
“During this time, I was reading a book by poet Mary Oliver called Blue Horses, a collection of poems that opened my eyes to the wonders of the natural world, the vitality contained infall things. Her poems also helped me to embrace human imperfection, in myself and others. The simple melody, guitar, and lyrics of the first two verses were inspired by these moments of connection with nature in my local woodlands. It took a phone call from a friend disturbed by the political polarisation occurring in his country to lead me to write the lyrics for the last verse. I feel that when internal or external tensions arise, it’s so easy to panic and put aside these moments of rest and listening, but that’s often when we need them most.”
A place we go to is also our Song of the Day. Watch the accompanying video that was filmed by Mina Wang Anderson near Oslo, Norway. You can hear the song of a Redwing bird, a nomadic bird that often visits these shores in winter.