In March 2009 Chris Wood, Karine Polwart, Jez Lowe, Mark Erelli, Emily Smith, Rachael McShane, Krista Detor and Stu Hanna gathered together for 7 days in farmhouse in rural Shropshire. They were tasked with creating new songs that had a ‘resonance and relevance to Darwin’.
The artists performed the 17 new songs to a sold out audience at the new Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury.
All the artists worked together and created a fantastic collection of songs, that was matched by the quality of the performances on the night.
The artists all wrote and performed the songs together, lead vocals and instrumental duties are shared evenly across the album.
There are some stellar songs amongst over the 73 minutes, the highlights include Krista Detor’s ‘Clock of the World’ brings all the female vocalists together in perfect harmony, Chris Wood’s ‘Turtle Soup’ is dripping in atmosphere and feeling, and Mark Erelli and Karine Polwart’s ‘Mother of Mysteries’ is brimming with energy and life.
Recorded live, the stage was set up with studio microphones to capture the very best sound quality possible and the results are exceptional, and are enhanced by the superb mixing from Hanna.
The project was the feature of a BBC Radio 4 documentary and a feature on Mike Harding’s BBC Radio 2 show.
The Darwin Song Project is an exceptional album that came out of an ambitious project, it shows the strength and skills of all 8 artists to write, arrange and perform these songs to this standard after only 6 days.
IN STOCK NOW!
CD details
17 tracks, 74 minutes
High quality 6 panel digipak
16 page booklet complete with lyrics and song introductions from all eight artists.
Project introduction by Chris Wood
More details on
The Darwin Song Project
Shrewsbury Folk Festival
Track listing
1 Trust in the Rolling Ocean
2 Heavy in My Hand
3 Turtle Soup
4 Kingdom Come
5 The Merchant’s Question
6 Thinking Path
7 Jemmy Button
8 From Miss Emma Brawley
9 The Earl of Darwin’s Farewell / Save A Place
10 Emma’s Lullaby
11 We’re All Leaving
12 Mother of Mysteries
13 Will You be Waiting?
14 Mother of My Soul
15 Clock of the World
16 We’ll Hunt Him Down
17 You May Stand Mute
£12.99 
Clock of the World - Krista Detor, Karine Polwart, Rachael McShane, Emily Smith
Mother of Mysteries - Mark Erelli & Karine Polwart
