The Creation of Spell Songs

Commissioned by Folk by the Oak Festival in 2018, the original, highly successful Spell Songs album (released in 2019) was inspired by, and became the musical companion piece to, the bestselling, prize-winning, and much-loved book The Lost Words co-authored by writer Robert Macfarlane and artist Jackie Morris. Those already familiar with The Lost Words, will know it as a work full of wildness, beauty, loss, and hope.

This award-winning book has become ‘a cultural phenomenon’ (The Guardian), beginning ‘a revolution’ (Chris Packham) and moving people across the UK to work with charities, book shops and local communities to raise money to get the book into schools, hospices, and care homes, whilst simultaneously inspiring a whole cultural sphere passionate about conservation from opera, dance, film and theatre through to the Spell Songs band and so much more.

With the release of their ‘little sister’ follow up book The Lost Spells in October 2020 the authors gave voice and presence to even more wildlife which presented the Spell Songs musicians with a glorious wealth of new artwork and poetry to explore for their second album Spell Songs II: Let The Light In.

The 'Lost’ books phenomenon began as a response to nature words being dropped from the standard Children’s English Dictionary and grew to become a much broader protest at the loss of the natural world around us. With the aim of reawakening our love of the wild, the authors created a dazzlingly original concept where poems became spells or incantations, and where art conjures nature. They are called ‘spells’ rather than poems as they are designed to be spoken (or sung!) out loud in order to summon back these words and creatures into our hearts. Robert explains: We’ve got more than 50% of species in decline. And names, good names, well used can help us see and they help us care. We find it hard to love what we cannot give a name to. And what we do not love we will not save.”

Spell Songs II: Let The Light In is born out of the same heartfelt concerns that informed the artwork and poetry within these two books, namely, the loss of our natural world, the need for a more compassionate view of the wild and a determination that there is still hope.

Reunited in April 2021, after multiple pandemic postponements, the Spell Singers eagerly joined Jackie and Robert at Greta Hall (once home to Samuel Taylor Coleridge) in the heart of the Lake District to begin their second collaborative residency. Each song may have originated within the hearts of one or two of the musicians, but through communal creative respect and generous musicianship these acorns of ideas were soon turned into truly collaborative works resulting in a stunning and unique album.

Andy Bell, the producer for both albums, witnessed the creation of each song during both residentials. This gave him a unique understanding of their origins. When it came to the recording process at Rockfield Studio and for the second album, Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, he was ideally placed to express the true beauty of all of the songs. The finished albums are timeless and accomplished and have a deep presence that will soar straight to your heart and stay there.

These songs are infused with folk, world, experimental, rock, alt-country, classical and traditional elements which capture the essence of the ‘Lost’ books. Spoken voice, whispers, accents, dialects, native languages, birdsong, the bark of foxes, the soft sound of a moth’s wing, the sound of a children’s climate strike; all increase the intimacy and power of the musical world conjured by the Spell Songs band.

Describing the collaborative process Rob and Jackie write:

"We feel lucky beyond words to have been given the chance to work with such astonishing people…. with the musicians each bringing strands of word and song and image, then weaving them together by ear, in the air . . . it all seemed a profound gift to us both…’
Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

The Spell Songs albums are commissioned by Folk by the Oak Festival | folkbytheoak.com