We Know by the Moon

The Anglo-Scottish quartet celebrate a decade of music making with their fourth album, We Know by the Moon. Emily Portman, Lucy Farrell, Alasdair Roberts and Rachel Newton are brilliant solo artists in their own right, so when they record and perform as The Furrow Collective, it is wise listeners that bend an ear.

It’s an album for the winter months, for long dark nights. ‘The moon, the stars, darkness and night are threads woven through these songs,’ the band say. ‘Songs to be listened to after dark, by candlelight, firelight, or under the cold, steady light of our constant lunar companion.’ Produced by Andy Bell, We Know by the Moon is lit up by stark musical and lyrical contrasts, the songs ranging from Burns’ ‘O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast; through Schubert’s ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Man’ from Winterreisse to the ghost ballad ‘The Wife of Usher’s Well’.

The presence and influence of the shining, waxing and waning moon can be felt both lyrically and musically, from the opening ‘The Moon Shines Bright’ and ‘The Moon Shined on My Bed Last Night’ through to the closing ‘O Watch the Stars’, while the likes of ‘The Wild Wild Berry’ are scored by haunted, distorted guitar and drones that seem to emanate from space.