New England vocal quartet Windborne have released their new album + illustrated songbook “To warm the winter hearth”, a collection of songs of solstice and winter music. Performed in English, Occitan and Lithuanian, it is a work of art with songs from the rich US-American, English and European folk libraries.
Angie Lemon
With a twenty-year background studying polyphonic music around the world, Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan effortlessly shift between different styles of music on a journey that spans continents and centuries, expanding on the profound power and variation of the human voice.
Windborne’s signature four-part vocal harmonies are the star attraction, with several songs embellished by the addition of guitar, banjo, and the traditional Lithuanian stringed kanklės, and guest appearances by Yann Falquet on accordion and Katie McNally on fiddle.
“To warm the winter hearth” features audience favourites like the classic “Boar’s head Carol” and “Come and I Will sing you”, which they learned from Lauren Breunig’s father, himself a touring musician with New England’s folk icons Nowell Sing We Clear. They also draw inspiration from folk titans The Watersons for songs like “Malpas wassail” from Cornwall, as well as contemporary artists writing in traditional styles like transatlantic folk singer Zoe Mulford and Scotland’s Ali Burns.
This album, the quartet members point out, “is not an exhaustive catalogue of all the celebrations that happen in midwinter; rather, it’s a collection of songs that represent some of the folklore and rituals that are meaningful to us. We are deeply grateful to the tradition-bearers who came before us – the countless known and unknown people who sang these songs in their homes and in pubs, down country lanes, and on concert stages – they gave us the customs that we hold dear today. This album is an homage to all of them.”
The album explores traditions beyond US-American and English shores. The rousing Lithuanian wassail “Aisim Bernai Kalėdaut”, which translates as “Come on lads, sing Kalėda,” highlights a pre-Christian Lithuanian midwinter holiday, while “Satan es ben estonat” (Satan was very surprised) comes from a mediaeval manuscript in the Occitan language (France) that describes Satan’s reaction to the nativity.
Themes of social consciousness remain an important focus for Windborne on as they did on their debut album “Song on the times”; (2017) that catapulted them from obscurity into full time touring. “To warm the winter hearth” features the English carol, “Time to remember the poor”, whose lyrics focus on compassion and solidarity with those who have less, particularly during the winter. Windborne has added additional words to this classic carol that asks us to reflect on our own responsibility: “We’re no different in worth at the core/ If by fortune’s fickle favor your estates were reversed/You would sing to remember the poor – Now’s the time to remember the poor.”
For centuries, communities have gathered at this coldest time of the year to sing, celebrate and share the stories of the past as Windborne share in their own words: “The season of midwinter was rich with song and tradition in the folk communities of New England where we were raised. Friends would gather to celebrate the light and warmth of sharing space with one another, and to revel in the sound of voices raised in harmony. In our households, putting on the “holiday music” meant albums filled with wassails, songs of the Winter Solstice, old English carols, and other music you’d never hear at the mall…Music came from a variety of midwinter customs like house-to-house visiting and singing back the sun on Solstice morning as we marked the turning of the year.”
With a growing online following of nearly half a million followers on social media, Windborne set an optimistic crowdfunding goal on Backerkit to cover their album + songbook production costs.Within a few weeks, they blew past this initial marker and finished their campaign with help from 8,000 fans.
“To warm the winter hearth” follows on from Windborne’s self-published album, “Of hard times & harmony” (2022) .Windborne are touring the USA in winter 2024 followed by a UK tour in early 2025.
For more information click here.
(Photos supplied by Angie Lemon and authorised for publication)
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