The power of A Casual Invocation comes from its mystery: it feels at once ancient & modern. Folk music at its most transcendent, an antidote to the banal and a gateway to the weird.
Listen to Cunning Folk’s ‘Traveller Hide Your Soul’ – a musical protective spell to ward off predatory song collectors from traditional singers in the Irish Traveller community.
As well as offering an insight into his new album Constant Companion, Cunning Folk talks to us about his influences, traditional music and more…‘Traditional music is living history. I’m joining in.’
It is rare for an album of predominantly traditional material to sound as fresh and inspired as this, and feel both thrillingly contemporary and utterly timeless. Cunning Folk is making some of the finest acoustic music to come out of this country in years.
This brilliant, eclectic and challenging new folk and experimental compilation has attracted a stellar cast of contributors while raising vital money for vulnerable young people in Southend. All in a very worthwhile cause.
We talk to George Nigel Hoyle (Cunning Folk) about his fascination with the ritual English landscape and his vast musical influences from Anne Briggs to Brian Eno. He also shares his fascination with ritual…”they signpost where we are & where we have come from.”
Ritual Land, Uncommon Ground is a quietly huge endeavour, a labour of love, full of valuable knowledge, surprising stylistic breadth and exquisite songwriting.
Watch ‘Lancashire, God’s Country’ the new video from George Nigel Hoyle’s latest project ‘Cunning Folk.’ Taken from his forthcoming album ‘Ritual Land, Uncommon Ground’ the song and animation is about The Pendle Witch Trials of 1612. It’s also our Song of the Day.
