The Moon Also Rises
The Moon Also Rises
Johnny Flynn and Robert Macfarlane
A second collaboration by this multi talented duo. We loved their first album Lost In The Cedar Wood, (already featured in a previous Nature Notes) and this follow up does not disappoint
Johnny Flynn is a known as the ‘Golden Boy of Folk’ and is a respected musician and songwriter with his band The Sussex Wit and a great actor. The nature writer, Robert Macfarlane is best known for his books, The Old Ways and Mountains of the Mind and then The Lost Spells, another joint project with the Pembrokeshire artist, Jackie Morris
There is a deep friendship between Johnny and Robert and they are united in their admiration for the poet, Edward Thomas. Literally they follow in Thomas’ footsteps, walking the same routes on the South Downs that he described in his writings. On this Edward Thomas pilgrimage the friends walk and talk and work on lyrics for their songs with Robert taking notes and Johnny creating musical patterns in his head. This album has ‘walked into being’. You can feel the rise and fall of the walkers’ tread, one foot in front of another, in the cadence of Robert’s lyrics which Johnny repeats in his musical arrangement. Despite some of the morbid subject matter there is joy in this music, it was recorded with friends (including the writer Merlin Sheldrake, whose book on fungi we featured in Nature Notes) over a week spent together in a celebration of artistic creativity
As a devotee of Edward Thomas, he is the author of one of my favourite poems, Out In The Dark, and as a fan of Johnny’s music and a reader of Robert’s books, I am listening to this on loop! To be best enjoyed on a long country walk through the hills
