This album was handmade at home during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. We were halfway through a tour when COVID-19 shut down the world, and we hurried home feeling disconsolate and afraid. Soon, we were worried about more than just the disease; when would we ever be able to gig again? Every day we would hear about another venue that would never reopen, another promoter who was hanging up their hat. We mourned for the wonderful festivals that would struggle to survive, and for not only our fellow musicians, but all the amazing folks “backstage”, whose careers were being destroyed – booking agents, roadies, publicists, sound and lighting techs, managers.

However, as the days passed in a strange, featureless desert, we were hugely moved by how supported we were being, by listeners subscribing to our Bandcamp, ordering cds, refusing refunds for cancelled gigs, and tuning in to our online concerts. Suddenly we realised we had been given a rare gift – time. Ironically, life on the road allows very little space for actually making music. But now, we could practice, develop our musicality, learn new songs, make new things.

Such an abrupt change from our daily touring life had left us with a sense of lost identity. If we weren't out there playing music to people, were we still musicians? This feeling sent us back to our roots. We decided we wanted to celebrate that mighty survivor, the tradition itself, tenaciously clinging on down the years. The world might feel like it is ending; but you need a song to sing for every occasion, and there the tradition can help you. What is more, essential to that survival is also evolution; taking old songs and attempting to breathe new life into them, with new musical approaches. We have focused on a more upbeat selection here, because this is an album about overcoming – about learning to do it yourself because you can't get the usual help; about not giving up; about not stopping playing, even in the face of disaster. This is an album that looks back, to hundreds of years of music making in these islands – but that also looks forward, to a time when we can overcome the distance that separates us, and raise our voices together once more in song.

Hannah Martin, August 2020