“This album is a tremendous and powerful thing…singing bright and fierce right into our contemporary moment” Robert Macfarlane
Commissioned by Folk by the Oak Festival, co-released and produced by Hudson Records, supported by Creative Scotland and blessed with exceptional musicians, skilful songwriters and wordsmiths with a remarkable 12 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards between them, Spell Songs’ 3rd studio album, In Thin Air, is the latest culmination of their collective talents, and is now available for pre-order.
Folk by the Oak first commissioned this stellar collection of seven acclaimed Folk and World musicians – Karine Polwart, Julie Fowlis, Seckou Keita, Kris Drever, Rachel Newton, Beth Porter and Jim Molyneux – to collaborate on the Spell Songs project back in 2018. What started out as a 1-album project cohered into a close-knit band with its own generous group dynamic that allowed music to flourish.
As with their first 2 albums (The Lost Words Spell Songs, 2019 and Spell Songs II, Let The Light In, 2021) In Thin Air is an homage to a collaboration by award winning artist Jackie Morris and renowned conservation author Robert Macfarlane. Released to widespread acclaim on 7 May, 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 Spell Songs’ new album are creative responses to the great thinning of our skies.
A reimagined birding field guide to wonder and loss, the book seeks to identify and also identify with the birds within its pages. Throughout Jackie and Robert’s book there runs a gentle mantra on The Seven Wonders of Bird – Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight and Migration, with seven chapters celebrating 49 birds all on the RSPB’s Amber or Red list.
Intrigued by this concept, the Spell Songs musicians have developed an intricate new album that has an overarching narrative, capturing the remarkable world of birds from nest to migration. In Thin Air seeks to deepen the connection between us and our precious birdlife, to bring them into focus. After all, they inhabit “…our languages and stories, our art and folklore, and our individual and cultural memories” (Karine Polwart). And as Rob writes, “Without them, things start to fall apart”.
The album opens with the susurrus sound of a starling migration combined with whispers and echoes that introduce us to the Seven Wonders of Bird.
The album moves through each wonder, from Nests of bark, baler twine and meadow grasses woven with warm cello swells and textured vocals, on to the lively activity of nest building with twig-snapping Senegalese rhythms. This gives way to the warm stillness of Egg as Rachel Newton sings us to the moment of emergence, brought about by the strength of Beak.
Julie Fowlis’ mimesis of the turtle dove guides the album into the wonder of Song, while the single Bells Fall Still sees Karine honouring the plight of both birds and humans in a song reminiscent of Spell Songs globally beloved anthem The Lost Words Blessing. Julie sings with Seckou Keita on one of the album’s singles Tàladh (Lullaby), where traditional Scottish song meets ancient Senegalese proverb, Gaelic meets Mandinka, and where fledglings meet the wonder of Feather.
Flight and Migration are not only evoked through delicate instrumentals with fluttering harp, kora and cello harmonics, but are also captured in moving ballads like Julie’s Fallen Feather, Jim Molyneux’s Ride the World’s Winds (an album single) and Kris Drever’s uplifting song Senegal – all of which realise the full expansive potential of this seven-piece band. And, at the close, the quiet, contemplative ukulele and timeless voice of Beth Porter reminding us that We Only Save the Ones We Love.
The album is symbiotically filled with the spirit of Jackie’s art and the heart of Rob’s prose, nurtured by the close connection between author, artist and musicians. An album that is a true musical companion; glad to be in the creative company of these visionary authors and in turn, our wondrous birds.
“In Thin Air is…. a dawn and evening chorus woven by a murmuration of seven musicians –– a spell cast into the air” Jackie Morris
The music was created within the contemplative green oak roundhouse of Tŷ Sanctaidd (Sacred House) in the grounds of Tŷ Trefacwn in South West Wales, and recorded at Castle Sound Studio in Pencaitland, East Lothian. The Spell Singers spent an intensive week honing each track, safe in the capable hands of Hudson Records’ Andy Bell, producer of their previous albums and now In Thin Air.
The physical album is an art-filled artefact. The CD is housed within a hardback book brimming with Jackie Morris’ stunningly crafted birds, eggs and nests, captivating photography by Elly Lucas, insightful song notes and lyrics by each of the musicians as well as enlightening pieces of writing by Robert, Jackie and Karine. This will be presented in a beautifully designed box in which nestles newly commissioned artworks by Jackie: an art card of a beautiful blackbird nest and ‘Blue Migration’ – a pull-out concertina style artwork.
An extraordinary thing of undoubted beauty, In Thin Air is on general release today o coincide with a UK tour, with live painting by Jackie Morris, taking in seven venues from Bristol (2 September) to Perth (10 September). Pre-orders including limited edition special copies, vinyl and art prints are available now.
Some of the tracks from the new album were heard live for the first time this month at Folk by the Oak in Hertfordshire where the Spell Songs line-up made a rare festival appearance.
“It’s not enough to love the song, if you forget the singers…”
Released on Hudson Records in partnership with Folk by the Oak Festival on 04.09.26 – now available for pre-order.
www.thelostwords.org/spell-songs-albums
www.folkbytheoak.com
PRE-ORDER & LISTEN LINK – https://hudsonrecords.ffm.to/inthinair
SOUNDCLOUD LINK – https://on.soundcloud.com/TT9rriTqlEkuoaMELh
SEPTEMBER 2026 TOUR
Fri 4 – Cambridge Corn Exchange – with pre-show talk by Jackie Morris & Robert Macfarlane plus Spell Songs Scratch Choir
Sun 6 – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
Mon 7 – Sheffield Octagon
Tues 8 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Thurs 10 – Perth Concert Hall
Tickets: www.thelostwords.org/live
SPELL SONGS MUSICIANS
Karine Polwart is a renowned singer-songwriter and musician from Stirlingshire. With no less than seven BBC Folk Awards to her name Including Folk Singer of the Year and a triple Best Original Song win she pulls no punches when it comes to writing songs on issues others might be afraid to tackle. www.karinepolwart.com
Julie Fowlis grew up on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides and is now based in the Highlands. She is a renowned Scottish folk singer celebrated for performing in her native Gaelic language and for providing the singing voice for Disney’s Pixar film Brave.
A regular TV and radio presenter she won the Folk Singer of the Year title at the 2008 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and she was Scotland’s inaugural ‘Tosgaire na Gàidhlig’ (National Gaelic Ambassador), an honour bestowed on her by the Scottish Government. www.juliefowlis.com
Kris Drever is a contemporary folk musician and songwriter from Orkney who came to prominence in 2006 with the release of his debut solo album, Black Water. He performs solo and as the vocalist and guitarist in the folk trio Lau and now lives in Glasgow. He was named Folk Singer of the Year at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall and also picked up the Best Original Song gong for his acclaimed sang If Wishes Were Horses. www.krisdrever.com
Seckou Keita is from southern Senegal. He comes from a prominent West African griot (praise singer and oral historian) family. He moved to the UK in the late 1990s and is currently based in Nottingham. He is one of the finest exponents of the kora, a harp-lute which is widely played in West Africa. He was named Musician of the Year at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. www.seckoukeita.com
Rachel Newton is an award-winning Scottish harpist and singer from Edinburgh. She was named the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Musician of the Year and the Scots Trad Music Award Instrumentalist of the Year 2016. She plays both acoustic and electric harp. Together with long-time friend and colleague Lauren MacColl, she recently co-produced Heal and Harrow, a multi-disciplinary project based on the Scottish Witch Trials. www.rachelnewtonmusic.com
Beth Porter is an in-demand cellist and singer on the UK folk and acoustic music circuit and lives in southwest Scotland. Although classically trained she is one of the few cellists playing outside the classical genre. She studied Music and Dance in Bath and has worked in line-ups with Newton Faulkner, Eliza Carthy and The Unthanks. She currently plays in the 12-piece Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band. She also writes songs and plays in The Bookshop Band and has her own songwriting project, Beth Porter and The Availables. www.bethporter.co.uk
Jim Molyneux is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and producer originally from Lancashire. He graduated from Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music and now lives in East London amid its vibrant music scene. As a teenager, Jim also reached the Grand Final of the highly acclaimed BBC Young Musician of the Year, after triumphing in the percussion final. Jim has appeared at prestigious venues like the O2 arena and Royal Albert Hall and been part of sold-out tours of the UK, US and Europe alongside singer songwriter Paris Paloma, pop sensation Natasha Bedingfield and electronic artist Barry Can’t Swim.www.jimmolyneux.co.uk
