Nature

Nature. Five of the songs from NATURE are poems written by others Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Phillip Larkin. Four others A Bastard Like Me, Little Wolf, Seagulls of Seattle and The River Song are poems Kelly wrote and later put to music. The other three came along the usual way as sounds sung to chords that then turned into words, sometimes slowly, sometimes in a rush. What links them all is the natural world trees,

“….Five of the songs from NATURE are poems written by others – Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Phillip Larkin. Four others – A Bastard Like Me, Little Wolf, Seagulls of Seattle and The River Song – are poems Kelly wrote and later put to music. The other three came along the usual way as sounds sung to chords that then turned into words, sometimes slowly, sometimes in a rush.

What links them all is the natural world – trees, birds, animals, plants, dust, desert, water – and human nature’s small place in that world. Most of the pieces were written over the last four years in and around the recording sessions for THE MERRI SOUL SESSIONS, SEVEN SONNETS AND A SONG and LIFE IS FINE. I didn’t realize I had the makings of another album until I put the songs in a folder and saw the titles staring me in the face. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re doing until you look back.

I think of NATURE as a companion piece to LIFE IS FINE, itself full of moons, rain, rocks, rivers, seas, smells and lovers. NATURE features many women singers. Vika and Linda, of course. Kellys’ daughters, Madeleine and Memphis Kelly, sing and hum on two songs. Alice Keath, who sang on SEVEN SONNETS, returns to bring her unique harmony to The Trees. And Kate Miller-Heidke plays the siren luring a lover to death (or is it to new life?) in Bound To Follow….”

– PK, July 26, 2018.