Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds

Simmerdim: Curlew Sounds is a critically acclaimed double album, multi-artist project of newly-commissioned works and soundscapes, inspired by one of the UK's most iconic and endangered birds, the Eurasian curlew. I’d like to thank the RSPB for making the project possible. The stunning cover art (right) was created by Tara Okon.

Available to buy from the 13th May 2022 (with a 16-page booklet), the album is also available to download and stream from all major platforms.

The idea for this project emerged from a new song, ‘Simmerdim’, inspired by my childhood memories of curlews in Orkney. In the course of my research, I discovered the wealth of folklore, poetry, and music that curlews have inspired, and came to realise the scale of their recent struggles. In some parts of the UK, curlew numbers have crashed by more than 60% and they are now on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red List. The prospect of losing curlews from the UK countryside drove me to assemble other creative responses to this iconic bird, specifically to raise funds and awareness for its conservation. After securing crucial support from the RSPB, I reached out to various musicians who were either UK-based or from countries where some of ‘our’ curlews migrate to and from, such as Norway and Finland, and asked them to create new music inspired by the curlew. This process resulted in some extraordinary and diverse contributions from Talvin Singh, David Gray, The Unthanks, Tiny Leaves, Cosmo Sheldrake, Camilla George and Tamar Osborn, Emily Barker, Puuluup, El Buho (feat. David Rothenberg), Marja Mortensson and Daniel Herskedal, and Tuuletar (as well my song , which features Nathan Riki Thomson on double bass). It was important to me that the album covered a range of genres.

For Disc II, I travelled the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, collecting recordings of curlews at five Curlew LIFE project locations, all of which were selected due to their importance for breeding curlews; Geltsdale and Hadrian’s Wall (England), Ysbyty Ifan and Hiraethog (Wales), Insh Marshes (Scotland), Loch Erne Lowlands, and Antrim Plateau (Northern Ireland). The RSPB-managed Curlew LIFE project aims to stabilise curlew breeding populations within these landscapes by 2024. With the help of my sister, Fiona, I also collected curlew recordings from near our childhood home in Orkney, still a stronghold for curlews, despite numbers halving in my lifetime.

Without curlews we would suffer much more than a loss of biodiversity. Their absence, and the absence of their sounds, would cut off pathways for imagination, conscience and feelings. I hope that this project will contribute in a small way to their protection.