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Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart are to collaborate on a new album with Mary Chapin Carpenter. Looking For The Thread is out on January 24th 2025 with Thirty Tigers worldwide, ahead of which they have shared a new single titled ‘Hold Everything‘. The song, which was written by Karine Polwart, is named after John Berger’s book ‘Hold Everything Dear: Dispatches on Survival and Resistance’ which offered a profound meditation on what political resistance means today. A timely song for so many today.
Hold Everything is also our Song of the Day:
In 2022, during the pandemic and with touring off the cards, Mary Chapin Carpenter reached out to Julie Fowlis to ask if she and Karine would make an album with her. Mary had previously worked with Julie on her 2017 album Alterum, on which she sang harmonies; described by Neil McFadyen as an album that demonstrates, the universal themes of transition, loss, spirituality resonate in any language, including music and art.
Following their initial contact they finally managed to meet in Northern Scotland for an extended writing retreat to see what magic could be made. The success of this initial experiment led to a second writing session and, in early 2024, the 10-song album Looking For The Thread was recorded at Real World Studios in Box, England, with Josh Kaufman (Bob Weir, The National, The Hold Steady) producing and a world-class band of musicians: Rob Burger (piano, organ, accordion, keys), Chris Vatalaro (drums, percussion), Cameron Ralston (bass), Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh (hardanger d’amore) and Josh Kaufman himself (guitar, keys). The album features tracks written by all three artists, who take turns performing and collaborating on each song.
In a recent newsletter, Karine shared her reaction to the news after Julie rang her:
“We sort of prop each other up on the phone.
“I mean, of all the musicians in all the world that a multi-Grammy Award winning, multi-million album selling writer of immense heart and heft might want to collaborate with, Mary Chapin Carpenter wants me and Julie?
“I sob after hanging up.”
Looking For The Thread will release on January 24, 2025 with Thirty Tigers worldwide.
Pre-Order: https://li.sten.to/lookingforthethread
Looking For The Thread Track Listing:
- Gràdh Geal Mo Chridhe
- A Heart That Never Closes
- Rebecca
- Looking For The Thread
- Hold Everything
- Silver In The Blue
- You Know Where You Are
- Satellite
- Buidheann Mo Chridhe Clann Ualrig
- Send Love
