Karine Polwart

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HELLO OUT THERE
Welcome, welcome to my wee musical corner of the Scottish Borders. There are more myspace users out there than there are people in Britain, so it's a small miracle that you've landed here. Thanks for following your nose. I look after this space myself as a touring musician and mum to a small and beautiful boy, so please try to bear with me if you send me a friend request or message and I don't reply instantly (or even if a week or two goes by). I try to reply to absolutely everyone and listen to as much music as I can but it takes more than just a minute or so ... and sometimes a word or two slips through ... But hey walking slow in this world is no crime, eh? Anyway, hope you enjoy the view from wherever you are.
THE OFFICIAL LINE GOES
"soul cleansing" (Q January 2008)
"takes the heart to places few singers even know exist" (WORD January 2008)
"righteous and beautiful" (MOJO, April 06)
"grippingly understated storytelling" (THE TIMES, June 06)
"beautifully formed tunes and observations that are not afraid of big questions and soft emotions" (IRISH TIMES, May 06)
"Polwart's skill is to make these deeply personal tales utterly universal" (TIME OUT, April 06)
The bittersweet, cascading harmonies of “The Good Years” sets the tone for Karine Polwart’s new album This Earthly Spell (Hegri04). And it’s been a good year indeed for The Scottish Borders based singer, who gave birth to her first child in 2007, and still managed to record enough material for not one but two new albums on her own label imprint Hegri Music.
Following the fireside intimacy of Scottish traditional collection Fairest Floo’er (Hegri03, Dec 2007), This Earthly Spell reinforces Polwart’s reputation as a humane and perceptive songwriter who draws on indie and roots influences as much as folk traditions.
The chiming opening track, a gorgeous vocal setting of a lyric by eminent Scots poet Edwin Morgan, gives way to the steely, swampy “Sorry”, whilst the delightful jazz inflected whimsy of “The News” contrasts the anti-nuclear political bite of “Better Things” and the incisive “Painted It White”. Unsurprisingly, for a new mum, three songs deal with motherhood. The poignant understatement of “Firethief”, which Polwart wrote originally for HIV/AIDS documentary “The Enemy That Lives Within”, one of BBC Radio 2’s Radio Ballads, unravels a mother’s loss; whilst she wrote the tender and delicate “Rivers Run” for her own son. But it’s the eerie and atmospheric parable “Tongue That Cannot Lie” that, most of all, betrays Polwart’s background as a former philosophy teacher, and her ongoing fascination with moral ambivalence. Inspired by the supernatural legend surrounding thirteenth century Scottish Borders poet and prophet Thomas The Rhymer, it also distinguishes her as an ambitious and captivating storyteller.
Most of the album was recorded just a few miles away from her Borders home at the beautiful Heriot-Toun visual arts studio which she and her live band, with producer Calum Malcolm, transformed into a unique and intimate recording environment. But despite the rural influences, there’s nothing escapist or sentimental about this collection of songs.
It’s three years since Polwart scooped a trio of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including “Best Album” for her debut Faultlines and “Best Original Song”, an accolade she won for a second time in 2007. In the meantime, she’s released two further solo albums, Scribbled in Chalk and Fairest Floo’er, and collaborated with the likes of Roddy Woomble and cult Glasgow indie outfit Future Pilot AKA. And she shows no sign of slowing down:
“More and more I feel like an album captures just a wee slice of time. I’m already working on new ideas and will be making new songs available through my website on a monthly basis this year for people who’re interested. I think it’s more and more important now for songwriters like me to offer something more than just a static piece of work.”
Off the road, Karine is likely to be found tramping the hills near the home in Southern Scotland, which she shares with bandmate, producer and partner Mattie Foulds, singing to herself and her wee son Arlo and looking for herons.
NEW SONGS AND PROJECTS
Making and releasing albums and touring with a baby is some piece of work! But in December 2007, I released a dark, stark CD of Scottish traditional songs called "Fairest Floo'er", most of which was recorded here at home by my husband Mattie, and with a little help from my brother Steven and pianist Kim Edgar. I released it on my own label Hegri Music. Check out the track "Dowie Dens of Yarrow" (above) for an idea of how it sounds.
In March this year, I'm releasing an album of my own songs "This Earthly Spell". Please have a listen to "Rivers Run", "Sorry" and "Firethief" (above) for an idea of things to come ...
I also sing in a vocal harmony trio with my pals Annie Grace and Corrina Hewat. We go under the rather uninspired name of Grace, Hewat, Polwart, which may sound a bit like an estate agents. But we don't! Find out more over at our girly trio myspace .
DOWNLOADING MORE SONGS
You can download three free demos of, as yet, unreleased KP songs from my main website . You can download songs from my latest album SCRIBBLED IN CHALK and the single I'M GONNA DO IT ALL (with The Gasman Song John C Clark) at simbiotic . And my debut album FAULTLINES can be downloaded from tradtunes.com .
GOOD OLD FASHIONED HARD COPIES?
And if you like what's on this page and you still prefer that lovely feeling of an actual hard CD copy in your hand (and one beautifully illustrated by Sarah Roberts I should add!) then you can find Scribbled in Chalk and Faultlines very cheaply at large international corporate marketplaces like amazon or (slightly less cheaply) via lovely small specialist indie stores such as musicscotland or at high street stores like HMV. I'm happy if you choose to buy it at all! You can only get my limited edition five track live PULLING THROUGH EP at an indie store like footstompin . You can also exercise your consumer power by buying from me at gigs, thus putting some cash directly into the pocket of the person who created the songs (thankyou very much!), instead of subsidising a massive corporation, which is the best way of supporting what I do - though admittedly a wee bit less economical than some of the other options ...
ON THE ART OF FRIENDSHIP
I'm intrigued and inspired by this myspace business and have already made some lovely and genuinely friendly connections with people from Kirkintilloch to South Korea and Walkerburn to Wyoming - both deliberate and wholly accidental. I like the idea of spidery threads and happenstance and I welcome the curious and the plain nosy.
When I first arrived here - full of pioneer enthusiasm - I followed every friend request with a wee home visit and listened to everyone's music without being asked. I spoke to some great folks that way too and stuck firmly to the view that "friends" is a word that should be used with at least some care. I didn't (and still don't) see the point in being linked to people with no genuine common interest on some level or people seeking only to promote themselves (and I rarely go scouting for friends myself). As in my walking, talking, tea drinking, shortbread eating life I thought I'd rather have fewer friends and more that care than indifferent masses.
Some 1800 or so emails later (to lovely strangers become friends in a blink) I began to wonder why I didnae get out much any more ...
So - alas - my new approach is that I will accept pretty much all friend requests in good faith - denying only the downright dodgy and unpleasant. But I simply cannae talk to everyone without giving up eating and other essential activities ... That said if you want to actually speak to me I do read all my messages and try really, really hard to reply to them all ... eventually. But just be patient a while or give me a wee nudge. Everything in its own time.
this weary earth we walk upon she will endure when we are gone