Albums
Announcing Spell Songs’ third Studio album: In Thin Air
Following on from the success and critical acclaim of our albums The Lost Words: Spell Songs (2019) and Spell Songs II, Let The Light In (2021) we are delighted to announce the release of our third studio album In Thin Air, coinciding with a 7-date UK Tour.
Inspired by Robert and Jackie’s latest work, The Book of Birds, this will be our most beautifully presented release yet: a unique mixed‑media album including a CD, a hardback book, an intricate blackbird‑nest art card, and a specially commissioned fold‑out concertina‑style artwork of Jackie Morris’ Blue Migration.
Visit the shop now, and explore our album options including deluxe CD box, vinyl and limited special editions with hand-signed art cards.
The Book of Birds is a love letter to the splendours and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the loss of birds from land, sea and sky. Both the book and the music are poetic responses to the great thinning of our skies.
Throughout the book there runs a gentle mantra on The Seven Wonders of Bird – Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight and Migration. Intrigued by this concept, the seven musicians have developed an intricate new album that has an overarching narrative, capturing the remarkable world of birds from nest to migration.
It’s not enough to love the song if you forget the singers…
“This album is a tremendous and powerful thing…singing bright and fierce right into our contemporary moment” Robert Macfarlane
“In Thin Air is…. a dawn and evening chorus woven by a murmuration of seven musicians –– a spell cast into the air” Jackie Morris
“...music that captures the ephemeral beauty and steadfast joy to be found in the nature that surround us. It will fill you with the determination to help our birds thrive into the future” Beccy Speight CEO of RSPB
**** “A sort of Harlem Globetrotters of modern folk... the Spell Songs collective return for a third collection ... Think Kate Bush's Aerial interleaved with the "hullo trees, hullo sky winsomeness of Virginia Astley's From Gardens Where We Feel Secure. A beaky blinder.” JW Mojo
***** "…this is an enchanting album” Morning Star
10/10 Album of the Month - Songlines
Must Listen ***** “The exquisite harmonies, alongside well thought out musical arrangements, should ensure that this album will endure” Andrew Smith, Folk London
“A lavish 3rd helping of songs in the key of bird, brimming with brightness and beauty, as the dream team reprise the impossible” At The Barrier - Seuras Og
“Musically and visually beautiful this is an uplifting and immersive experience that carries a serious message” Marc Higgins, Fatea Magazine
"In Thin Air' is an album in constant fluttering motion, one that soars and sings" Thomas Blake, Klof Magazine
"a haunting, seductive piece of work ...music with relevance in a far wider context" Spiral Earth
The music was created within the contemplative green oak roundhouse Ty Sanctaidd (Sacred House) in the grounds of Ty Trefacwn in South West Wales, and recorded at Castle Sound Studio in Pencaitland, East Lothian.
The new album is available now, including limited and special editions.
Music from the album was premiered live this summer at Folk by the Oak Festival and tours the UK in September 2026.
Spell Songs II: Let The Light In
Click here to order your copy!
Click here to download the lyrics
With the publication of The Lost Spells in 2020, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris gave voice and presence to yet more birds, animals and flora, and became a wonderful new source of material for our second album, Spell Songs II: Let The Light In, inspiring tracks such as ‘Bramble’, ‘Thrift’, ‘Swallow’ and ‘Red Is Your Art’ from the Red Fox spell.
We are delighted to present another truly collaborative work, a unique album that shines with a heartfelt passion, energy and sincerity, comprising 15 eclectic songs with folk, world, experimental, folk-rock, alt-country interwoven with little gifts of spoken voice, whispers, accents, dialects, native languages, birdsong, the bark of foxes, the soft sound of a moth’s wing, even the impassioned voices of a children’s climate strike. It is a truly magical listening experience.
Praise for Spell Songs II: Let The Light In
"Spell Songs II: Let The Light In proves equally captivating (to their first album) with a serendipitous blend of guitar, harp, woodwind, kora and more.…but it’s the group’s collective vocals that ace it.”
Neil Spencer, The Observer *****
"The album is a testament to the interplay between the musicians"
David Honigman, Financial Times ****
“A glorious blend of music and pictures celebrating British wildlife with all kinds of fantastic folk players involved.”
Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 Folk Show
“Enchantment indeed”
***** Songlines
“Graceful and mighty”
**** The Scotsman
“It is a collection to share and reflect upon. So, gather round, cherish the songs, Macfarlane’s words and Morris’s imagery and steep yourself deep in the natural world that surrounds us and prepare to be spellbound”
Billy Rough, Folk Radio UK
"...one of the most beautiful albums I’ve ever come across.”
Lucy Shields, The Folk Forecast
The Lost Words: Spell Songs
Click here to order
Commissioned by Folk by the Oak Festival in 2018 the original, highly successful Spell Songs album was released in 2019 quickly being awarded Songlines Top of the World Album and later Best Album 2019.
The album was inspired by and became the musical companion piece to, the bestselling, prize-winning, and much-loved book The Lost Words, and the Spell Songs ensemble went on to perform sell out concerts at iconic venues aroudn the UK.
Praise for The Lost Words: Spell Songs
"Capturing the imagination of folk music's finest, ...gently reflective collection of original songs"
Mojo
“Spell Songs is a work of vision and brilliance...”
fRoots *****
“complex and beautiful and an absolute joy from start to finish”
RnR *****
“rapturously received”
BBC Music Magazine *****
Financial Times *****
"exquisite musical reimaginings and settings … an outstanding production”
Songlines ****
“beguiling”
The Sunday Times****
“a delightful homage to nature”
The Times****
"A brave and magical creation"
The Observer
Click here to read more about the creation of The Lost Words: Spell Songs
Gifts of Light
Spell Songs Digital LIVE Album
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A live record produced during the Spell Songs 2022 Spring tour at Birmingham Symphony Hall and within the Hintze Hall of the Natural History Museum in 2021.
“...characterised by an uplifting vitality which soothes the soul...collaborative music-making at its very finest”
Folk Radio UK