The Hall of Einar Sunday Recommendation #31

Hello and welcome to my Sunday Recommendation. Thanks for joining me. Every week I read great wildlife and nature books, stumble upon engrossing websites and hear wonderful new music. This is my chance to bring you carefully curated recommendations of all the best I’ve experienced – every Sunday. If it’s folk, or independent, or about wildlife, nature or Orkney, I may love it, and so may you.

Half Wild – Kitty Macfarlane

I’ve enjoyed Kitty Macfarlane’s music ever since I saw her in a tiny room above a pub, in days when it was possible to be in an audience. I bought her CD and EP immediately, because I’ve never thought just buying a gig ticket is enough if I’ve really enjoyed a performance. I think I may have also bought her temporary eel tattoo. Now that’s what I call supporting an artist. I wonder where it is now? I reviewed her CD, Namer of Clouds in The Hall of Einar Sunday Review #8:

The Hall of Einar Sunday Review #8

Here’s Kitty’s new song and video. It’s four minutes of delicate bliss, a musical equivalent of sand on your feet and seashells between your fingers, a rustle of stones from the backwash of a wave and the call of a seabird rolling over the water.

“When the tide throws back its cover
Leaving letters scrawled by hand
That only water can decipher
And flood again those syphons of sand.”

I love the way she’s not ashamed to be quirky, eclectic or eccentric. Anyone who loves eels as much as she does is okay by me. Most importantly, her songwriting is completely authentic and totally heartfelt. She believes what she writes, so we do too.

Half Wild features the ridiculously talented Jim Molyneux on multiple instruments, because he plays them all so well. He also sings beautifully, so he’s on backing vocals. The production by Mark Tucker has designed the soundscape beautifully. He’s the sort of person who has worked as an acoustician, which tells you all you need to know about the extreme care he’s taken to capture the properties of each instrument and Kitty’s voice. It’s glorious.

All the links to your usual ways of streaming so the artist gets a pittance are here.

That’s it for this week. I’ll be back with more recommendations of things you might adore next Sunday. In the meantime, I wish you a great week. Keep safe, everyone.

More Sunday Recommendations