BRIDGET HAYDEN AND THE APPARITIONS – Cold Blows The Rain (Repress) – LP – 180g Vinyl [MAY 23]

LP – 180g Black Vinyl.

The reinterpreted traditional folk songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are shaped by the land and the weather. Wrapped in mist and drizzle, the crawling drone of low heavy clouds on flat-top moors. The sound of the dark Calder Valley floor and sun starved hills around Todmorden, West Yorkshire in the North of England.

In Todmorden, the oddly-named market border town in West Yorkshire with a habit for embracing the weird and wonderful, aburst of sunshine is a precious thing. Through the thick of Winter, through every season in fact, the towns folk are used to the
wind and rain, fog and mist. As much a part of the town as the trademark deep valley it sits in, here the lay of the land invites theweather in, just as it does the many musicians, artists, and unique characters that have come to call the place home over thecenturies.

Bridget Hayden is one such soul who found a home among these hills. The experimental musician, who invites the ghosts in forthe classic folk songs that make up her stunning new album, knows only too well about such weather, how rare and treasured thebreaks from it are. Her favourite thing to do in the valley, she says, is to make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine.

Such aspirations nearly derailed the recording of Cold Blows the Rain, her new eight-song collection released via theTodmorden- based label Basin Rock. Having hired the towns Oddfellows Hall to record these new songs in the late summer of2022, Hayden says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it, only moving inside to begin recordingwhen the sun was setting, working deep into the night to make up the time.Theres a good chance, however, that it had to be this way. The songs that make up Cold Blows the Rain are not made for thesunlight. They come, instead, wrapped in mist and coated with drizzle, those elements shaping the album as much as the voiceand the instruments held within, as real but ambiguous as the ghosts that linger in the shadows. The sound of the dark valleyfloor.

Mostly centred around meditative and experimental improvisation, Bridgets work to-date has seen her spend more than twodecades recording and performing on the underground music scene. Shes also toured internationally both as a solo artist and aspart of bands such as Schisms and The Telescopes, while working on various side-projects with the likes of Folklore Tapes.

For all of this sonic exploration, so much of her work has been formed around elements of traditional folk aesthetics and, overtime, she began to piece together a collection of reinterpreted traditional songs that she absorbed as a child from her mother:through The Dubliners and Muddy Waters, to Bessie Smith and The Leadbelly Songbook. Harvesting her love for Nina Simone,Karen Dalton, Margaret Barry, and more, Bridget takes these traditional songs and transforms them into something uniquelyevocative.

“It goes back to the womb, Bridget says of that connection. I would not call it a memory as it is so deep within my blood and bones. My mum was the source, she sang all the time, as part of life. So it was a very lulling and natural introduction. It seemedcommon to hear her singing unbeknownst to her in time with a raindrop dripping at the window, Bridget continues. Ivealways wanted to do a folk record as I love these songs so much. It comes much more naturally to me to sing other peoples
words, especially when theyre as beautiful as these old verses.

Underpinned by waves of analogue reverb, and led by Bridgets stirring and weather-beaten voice, the songs on Cold Blows theRain drift and crawl like low heavy clouds on flat-top hills, shaped by the land. The backdrop is equally as arresting, all subtle
gloom cast in shadow, a gentle but pronounced swirling of textures, crafted from harmonium and violin courtesy of TheApparitions (Sam Mcloughlin and Dan Bridgewood-Hill).

The weather speaks the most eloquently about human loss, Bridget says, articulating such sentiments. Its good to feelenveloped by something so much vaster than ourselves. The rain and the tears all become one.

Tracklist:

1. Lovely on the Water
2. Backwater Side
3. Are You Going To Leave Me
4. She Moved Through The Fayre
5. When I Was In My Prime
6. Factory Girl
7. Red Rocking Chair
8. The Unquiet Grave