MAKE YOUR MARK

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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.”

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” Higher We Aspire from the new album has been added to the BBC Radio 2 playlist and there is a new video out now. The video was filmed at Exeter Cathedral. Watch here >> https://youtu.be/sVGLkfX1M_M 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.Underground explores the vulnerability of working people dismissed at will despite decades of loyalty. The tone is sombre but the protagonists survive. Whatsmore, “the far-off cry from the underground” persists when the silence is deafening. There’s a distinct organic live feel that inevitably comes from the bowing and the wooden instruments as he counts in several of the songs with cues to bring to us the feel of musicians playing together, live, in the same room. Standouts on first evidence are Love Will Still Remain (already elevated to the opening lot in concert) the excellent single Higher We Aspire and encore number Change. The former relies on a drone that evolves in to an ethnic fiddle line with the “ remaaaiiiinnn” chorus and the restrained march that carries the tune forward. Perhaps some of the Robert Plant influence rubbing off on Seth – either that our our boy showing the sort of chops that attracted old Planty in the first place.

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.

Leading UK folk singer-songwriter Seth Lakeman has been very prolific since the release of his debut album ‘The Punch Bowl’ in 2002. Never one to repeat himself, Lakeman’s work has interwoven historical and local tales, while celebrating the essence of the folk genre. His last album, 2020’s ‘ A Pilgrim’s Tale’ was inspired by the Mayflower, but for his new album ‘Make Your Mark’, a record Lakeman considers a companion to his 2006 classic ‘Freedom Fields’, takes on broader themes inspired by the downtime the world has experienced thanks to the pandemic. 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. 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. Folk musician Seth marries his Cornish sweetheart | Western Morning News". Thisiscornwall.co.uk. 6 June 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013 . Retrieved 14 November 2015.

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. "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” Fallen Friend drops in on various groups of friends and strangers remembering the heroic deceased subject of the song. Lakeman explores what’s they’ve lost and what will endure.

Release

All in all, Make Your Mark is a dramatic and tense but, ultimately, hopeful album. It’s driven by certainty in our capacity to take action for the greater good if we’re guided by love. Coming For You Soon sparks thought and debate – who is coming for who soon, and why? The lyrics are delivered as rapidly as the frantic fiddle, adding to the tension. As the song develops, we get the impression that ‘they’ have already come for others and you’re next. In this four part series, Seth takes a look at the folk music found in Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland, talking to some of its greatest proponents and asking what makes each tradition distinct.