This is an album that Waterson:Carthy have been wanting to make for a very long time. Songs and carols celebrating all the seasons of the year is a very English concept. The Watersons’ first album in 1965 was the groundbreaking, highly revered and very successful ‘Frost And Fire (A Calendar Of Ritual And Magical Songs)’ and the concept continues to fascinate them. With this new release Waterson:Carthy have eclipsed even that seminal album. These songs celebrate the diversity of the seasons as well as the religious, physical and economic impact each had upon people’s lives and still resonate today with all the power they had in our past. Waterson:Carthy has one of the most acclaimed lineups of any group in the world: Eliza Carthy, Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson & Tim Van Eyken. Each member is a leading solo artist in his or her own right and each has individually won many awards. The sound on this album is a resoundingly full blooded one: the resonant sounds of ensemble singing bolstered by the young and exciting new vocal trio, The Devil’s Interval, are further accompanied by guitar, fiddle, mandolin, melodeon, brass and percussion. Here Waterson:Carthy have produced their best album to date. This is an album for everybody, glorious music on all levels with a sound at once contemporary with the “new folk” movement and as timeless as the subject matter itself.
About Eliza Carthy, Emily Portman, Jim Causley, Lauren McCormick, Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson and Tim Van Eyken
