MAKE YOUR MARK

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In true organic fashion, the album is produced by Seth himself andr eleased on his own label, Honour Oak Records, with inspiration coming from from the environment to love, death and self-belief. “The pandemic gave me a real determination to come out musically stronger and I really dug deep into myself for this album” says Seth. “Being able to record and play with the band again was really quite spiritual.” You can imagine. It’s been almost 20 years since Seth Lakeman recorded his first solo album. It was his second record - the Mercury Music Prize-nominated - ‘Kitty Jay’ that saw him really come to the public attention. Then, he was promoted as the poster boy of English folk music. Today, he is one of the artists setting the pace in terms of musical excellence in that genre. Bound To Someone is tender vignette, and Hart’s contribution is simply beautiful. We hear about the power of love to guide and persist across oceans. “It isn’t where you end up/it i sn’t where you start/it’s how you make your mark” The set highlight, however, appears from nowhere. It’s a surprisingly effective arrangement of Coming For You Soon from the new album. Missing the fiddle from the recorded version, it finds Seth scrubbing out an ominous percussive rhythm as he sings of the valleys they betrayed. One that becomes increasingly intense, there’s a hint of Dylan apocalyptic fire or for a more contemporary analogy, adopting the sort of impassioned preacher delivery that fuels much of Martyn Joseph’s work.

Make Your Mark, produced by Seth Lakeman and released on his record label Honour Oak, is out now on CD, digital, and double vinyl. Next, we’re transfixed by a sustained, discordant note. Foot-stomping instrumentation begins at the minute mark of Love Will Still Remain. So does the persistent note, even while softened by harmonies from Alex Hart. The pandemic gave me a real determination to come out musically stronger and I really dug deep into myself for this album” says Seth “Being able to record and play with the band again was really quite spiritual”Recorded at Middle Farm Studios in Devon earlier this year as restrictions eased and produced by Seth himself, the album is being released on his own label, Honour Oak Records. Inspiration for the songs on his 11th studio album came from a range of subjects – from the environment to love, death and self-belief. Seth Lakeman has that ability to create something entirely contemporary from sounds that emerge from traditional music. The instrumentation and approach is firmly rooted in folk traditions, but the songs, themes and production resonate with modern expectations and feelings. It’s an impressive mix: songs which could not have been written anytime other than now; but, at the same time, using styles entirely familiar to an audience from 1821 or 1721.

Freedom Fields helped Seth build on his traditional cult following but found him a whole new audience for his rhythmic, captivating brand of indie-folk song writing. He was named Folk Singer of the Year, and ‘ Freedom Fields’ awarded Album Of The Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2007. Seth Lakeman takes a break from the Robert Plant musical juggernaut in Autumn 2018 to release his ninth studio album ‘The Well Worn Path’ on 26 October before heading out on tour in November with a new band line-up. Lakeman's fifth album, Hearts & Minds, was released on 19 July 2010. Produced by studio veteran Tchad Blake [6] Lakeman released his sixth album called Tales from the Barrel House on 18 November 2011. In 2014 the Word Of Mouth album was released. [7] Seth says “ I’m really excited to be able to share the whole Freedom Fields album for its 15th anniversary! It’s a collection of songs hugely inspired by the Westcountry and it still seems to be the most popular album I’ve recorded so far. This is going to be pretty special. I hope you can tune in to watch!”Irwin, Colin (3 July 2008). "Seth Lakeman: to the sea!". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 14 November 2015. Change is one of those rattling encore songs that’s going to vie with race To Be King and Last Rider for the banjo and jaws harp driven charge at the end of the set hoedown. It’s just a few brass parts short of being a Bellowhead belter for the reunion that seems bound to come. Higher We Aspire similarly, sees the massed strumming accompanied by some delicate jewels of notes added by Benji on what could be the crossover number of the set. And while the jolly and jaunty continues withThe Giant – a pleasant little singalong part at the song’s conclusion “ On the ocean, on the high seas, on the ocean”– there’s a fair share of sobriety and reflection making its mark. It wouldn’t be a proper folk album without a song about fishermen, and so Lakeman casts the nets out for the spare and atmospheric ‘Shoals To ‘Turn’ as he details “ a harvest moon on the sea tonight” and the wooden boats out on the bay waiting for the fish to head their way; naturally it comes with a built-in metaphor too. Constantly pairs close observation of the environment with the persistence of memory in an extended lament. The sustained note that opens Love Will Still Remain is mirrored by a similarly held note to close the record down. That’s fitting as the songs essentially explore the same premise.

Seth Lakeman was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2005 for ‘Kitty Jay’. It catapulted Lakeman into the forefront of the new British folk movement and his follow up was the gold-selling ‘Freedom Fields’ which was released twice in 2006. Produced by his brother Sean Lakeman it came out on iScream and was then re-released by Relentless (EMI) where it went on to become Seth’s first of 6 UK Top 40 albums.It’s like being on holiday,” says Seth Lakeman about his road trip with Joe Francis and Alex Hart. “ The three of us in a van.” His most recent album, Make Your Mark, was released in 2021. [8] Lakeman performing at Folk by the Oak Festival, Hatfield House in 2008 Awards [ edit ] To celebrate the 15 th anniversary, Seth will be playing a worldwide concert stream with his band playing the album which includes ‘ Lady of the Sea’, ‘King and Country’ and ‘ White Hare’ plus other favourites.

After a fallow period, we suddenly have a glut of gigs. A glut of Seth in fact, having encountered him with the full band at Manchester’s Stoller Hall, promoting both the new Make Your Mark album and celebrating fifteen years of Freedom Fields. Anchored by drone and propelled by fiddle and Kearney’s solid marching beat drums, ‘Love Will Still Remain’ treats on a familiar folk theme of love enduring beyond death (“ I’ll still be here a word away/In silence and in space”) in the memories of times shared, the pizzicato (bouzouki?) notes of the slow paced ‘Bound To Someone’ guiding another number about an enduring relationship as it tells of a sailor (“ His face … rough and rugged… hard as the granite clifftop”) returning after years at sea to “ unwind the hard times” and try to rekindle the fire that went out with his leaving. In March 2006 Lakeman began a UK tour to promote his new album Freedom Fields which was released on iScream. Produced again by Sean Lakeman, he signed to a new major record label, Relentless Records, promptly releasing a new single "Lady of the Sea" in early August 2006. This record went gold making it one of the biggest selling traditionally based folk records ever in the UK. [ citation needed] The Full English is a folk music digital archive project. Lakeman joined Fay Heild, Martin Simpson and others to create a Full English group to record folk songs for the archive, followed by a national tour. ( Topic, 7 October 2013) Seth will be taking us on a tour of the folk and traditional music of the British Isles, exploring the distinct sounds of different regions.That breath of wind is me”. It’s an obvious line given the title but, Lakeman has most certainly made his mark, and it’s one of true quality. I am delighted to announce the release of my brand new album ‘A Pilgrim’s Tale’ on 07 February 2020! Telling the epic tale of the Pilgrim Fathers on the 400th anniversary of the historic Mayflower voyage. Charles De Ledesma (2007). "Seth Lakeman The Punch Bowl Review". BBC Music . Retrieved 3 August 2023.