Welcome…

Oh Friends. Written about experiences of the anti fracking movement in North Yorkshire, a beautiful and desperate standing of friends to keep Ineos away from their village. They succeeded and activists around the world breathed deeply at their resolve, I was honoured indeed to have been there to sing and offer some meditation workshops. Oh friends is inspired by their gathering to sing in front of the gates to the site each week, one of many actions they took.

Listen To Women. Since recording these songs the news has brought us the tragedies of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa. Prior to this, this song came inspired by the inspirational women I listened to at that time – always my mother, Greta Thunberg, Alexandria Ocasia Cortezand the rest of the squad, bell hooks…the list goes on but under the shadow of patriarchy – I felt to put some of that feeling into words

This Skin. This and last Summer I had and am having a conversation continuing about white skin with my dear friend Joseph Mpanga. It started as I undertook the ‘Being White’ course with the Quakers. Joseph, from Uganda and having been through the nightmare of the UK asylum system, is well aware of the effects on people of colour of ignorance of whiteness  This Skin draws some lines from the past that remain present as I continue to look into this.

Young Colours. is a song for rainbows. Gender expression I believe is better and better, the wider it gets. I’d say I’m cis-gendered for the most part but feel my eyes filled with tears for the violence and exclusion of those siblings expressing themselves differently to heteronormative ideas. I raise my flag for embracing gender and sexual diversity as the norm.

Eco pins

I love pins. Inside each EP box is this cotton-card badge set and pins – here’s how you make them up – you can’t really see it but they are proofed with sellotape on the front to make water resistant.

Credits

Big thank you to those who gave their time and love to these songs playing and influencing.

Players:
clockwise from top left Martha Wright, Naomi Haigh, Tim Monkey, Max West, Will Saunders, Seth Roberts, Jon Ryan, Jill Ryan,

Listen To Women Choir
(Clockwise from top left) Melissa James, Manu Farenzena, Kasia Stepien, Lizhuo Zhang, Jonathan Ryan, Doran Amos, Robbie Campbell, Sebastien Schuster, Joshua Donaldson, Dave Vered, Max West, Helena Davies

Influences on the songs:

Clockwise from top left) Alexandria Ocasia Cortez, Akala, Greta Thunburg, my mum!, Resmaa Menaken,Joseph Mpanga, Reni-Eddo Lodge, Ollie Shminkey, bell hooks, The Anti-fracking camp of Kirby Misperton, Layla F Saad, Jacinda Arden

Joseph’s poem

And lastly big thanks to the patient and kind Myles Eastwood at Eastwood Records who mixed and mastered the songs. For more on Myles’ magic visit here

In loving thoughts of Naomi Haigh (cello on Listen To Women and This Skin) who lives on in sooo many ways ❤ see if you can find the butterfly in the rainbow disco ball in the artwork- Naomi loved butterflies and ran the famous ‘zoom disco @8’ every Friday during lockdown.