Simmerdim: Curlewsounds

Kartel Music Group are proud to be working in partnership with the RSPB on a unique album project.

Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds is a remarkable double album, multi-artist project of newly-commissioned works and soundscapes, inspired by one of the UK’s most iconic and endangered birds, the Eurasian curlew. The project is the brainchild of the Orkney-born musician Merlyn Driver, who, with the support of the RSPB, has made this extraordinary project possible. 

Disc I features new curlew-inspired music by musicians from a diverse range of genres including Talvin Singh, David Gray, The Unthanks, Tiny Leaves, Cosmo Sheldrake, Camilla George and Tamar Osborn, Emily Barker, Puuluup, El Buho (feat. David Rothenberg), Marja Mortensson and Daniel Herskedal, Tuuletar, and Merlyn Driver (feat. Nathan Riki Thomson).

Disc II is a collection of soundscapes recorded by Merlyn at six remaining curlew 'hot spots' around the UK.

Merlyn was born and brought up on a smallholding in Orkney in the north of Scotland and spent a lot of his childhood outdoors. The sound of curlews calling out in the simmerdim – the night-long twilight found in the Northern Isles around midsummer – is one of his most vivid memories of home. Curlew vocalisations are totally unique, featuring complex harmonics and pitch variations. Their sound is often described as haunting, but just as often as hopeful or even ecstatic.

The idea for the album emerged from Merlyn’s work on a new song, ‘Simmerdim’, inspired by his memories of curlews. In the course of his research, he discovered the wealth of folklore, poetry and music that curlews have inspired, and came to realise the true scale of their recent struggles. In some parts of the UK, curlew numbers have crashed more than 60% and they are now on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List. The devastating prospect of losing curlews from the British countryside drove Merlyn to act and assemble other creative responses to this iconic bird, specifically to raise funds and awareness for their conservation. 

Merlyn reached out to a group of musicians who were either UK-based or from countries where the curlew migrates to or from the UK, such as Norway and Finland, and asked them to compose new music inspired by the curlew. The result is the 12 tracks on Disc I, which range from a curlew Sámi joik to electronic curlew sampling, Indian tabla, an Estonian talharpa fiddle piece, Finnish a capella and British folk.

For Disc II, Merlyn travelled, Alan Lomax-style, the length and breadth of the UK, collecting recordings of curlews at five locations around the UK identified as priority landscapes for curlews by the RSPB’s Curlew LIFE project; Geltsdale and Hadrian’s Wall (England), Ysbyty Ifan and Hiraethog (Wales), Insh Marshes (Scotland), Loch Erne Lowlands, and Antrim Plateau (Northern Ireland), where the aim is to stabilise curlew breeding populations within these landscapes over the next four years. 

With the help of his sister, Fiona, Merlyn also collected curlew recordings from near his childhood home in Orkney, still a stronghold for curlews, despite numbers halving in his lifetime.

Proceeds from the album will directly support the RSPB’s Curlew Recovery Programme. 100% of net profits from each download of this Album will be donated to RSPB, a registered charity in England and Wales, number 207076, and in Scotland, number SC037654.

Find out More: https://curlewlife.org/2022/04/the-curlew-sounds-project-behind-the-scenes / https://www.curlewsoundsproject.org/album

Website: https://rspb.org.uk/curlewsounds / https://www.curlewsoundsproject.org / 

Socials: @curlewsounds

Artwork by Tara Okon