Holding Hands In The Dark

This 2 CD compilation, a Second Language confluence, features exclusive tracks by Snowdrops, Matthew Shaw, The Leaf Library, David Rothon, Franck Alba, Mark Fry, Hilary Robinson, Angèle David-Guillou, Mücha, Glen Johnson, Oliver Cherer, Statues In Fog and Marc Namblard.

Born out of a frustration with Brexit’s attempts to burn bridges with Europe, ‘Holding Hands In The Dark’ seeks to build more, specifically cultural, ones. The players on this compilation herald mainly from the UK and France and are generally known to each other, either by previous collaboration or simple mutual admiration. In the darkness of these difficult, perplexing, frustrating times, they reach out and defiantly join hands.

When we were children we used to sing ’rounds’ on long car journeys through France and on down to Italy. ‘Oh blow the wind southerly, southerly, southerly, blow the wind south o’er the sea’. My little instrumental on this compilation, ‘Adiré’, reminded me of those journeys – the sadness of leaving somewhere, mingled with the anticipation of arriving.