Folk: album review – Spell Songs ‘In Thin Air’

Originally commissioned by the organisers of the Folk By The Oak festival, the Spell Songs project was initially conceived as a one-off project but are now onto their third album. Spell Songs brought together seven outstanding musicians and comprises Karine Polwart (tenor guitar/vocals), Julie Fowlis (whistles/vocals), Seckou Keita (kora/percussion/vocals), Kris Drever (guitars/bass/vocals), Rachel Newton (electroharp/viola/vocals), Beth Porter (cello/ukulele/vocals) and Jim Molyneux (piano/keyboards/drums/percussion/vocals). Following the success of the initial album The Lost Words Spell Songs in 2019 and its follow-up Let The Light In in 2021, In Thin Air is released as a musical companion to the acclaimed work by artist, Jackie Morris, and conservation writer, Robert Macfarlane, whose The Book of Birds was published earlier this year. As I look onto our communal back-garden here on the south coast with its abundance of blackberries and newly-installed bird bath, I like to pride…