Earlier this week The Black Hill, The Glass Sky was released with
@somewhere.press
I was invited to write the text that served as a prompt, departure point & guide for the musicians on the compilation. Cannot thank Tim and Lizzie enough – for the invite to collaborate, for their energy, kindness, editing insight & bringing this project together with such sensitivity. SP is a v special thing 🖤
It has been hard for me to come back to this text, because some of the images were lifted from a walk with my family for my brother Luca’s 18th birthday. It was the last birthday he would spend with us. His death in May has left my family so heartbroken and traumatised – there is almost no way to describe this grief and pain. It might sound strange, but on re-reading, Luca’s presence & absence is so strongly carried here. His death crosses the text like the shadow of a bird. I miss him so much.
To the musicians who worked on tracks departing from my prompt: I cannot explain how it beautiful it is to give over something I obsessed over, felt unsatisfied with, strung together - an imperfect grasping - for it to be returned, transformed. I listened in a dream-state. All I can say is how grateful I am 🤍
There are many other feelings & things that made their way into this v short text (image 3 moodboard). Thinking through frothing air, stone beings, foxgloves, burning rituals & incl. bonus
@metzgre long plaits with the ribbons; the way Angela Carter describes undergrowth; seasonal deities and divine hags; Kate Bush’s b-side Under The Ivy; I could go on. And honestly I wrote it between particularly bad flare ups of intense physical pain – so I was also trying to conjure landscapes I couldn’t be in.
Ok ok wrapping it up, my thanks always to
@jmsmclr who is a wonderful editor & says things that make the difficulty of writing worth it. To
@abbybeatrice who suggested me for this & is nothing short of a divine presence in my life 🪽 all my love, E x
