Charm of Finches – Winter Folklore: Sonics of the Season
The February sun starts to rise a little higher with a gentle hum as the derelict whistle of deep winter subdues. Time softens. The voices of folk music gather like starling murmurations on a frosty winter’s evening on the seafront. A newly renovated stillness takes its place, creating a space for reflection and the first strings of spring renewal.
Bringing their own tales of the season to The Folklore Rooms this month, come the bewitching folk pioneers Charm of Finches. Known for their seamless blood harmonies and sonic textures, I caught up with the Australian sister duo who shared their inspiration during the colder months.
In 2024, a long UK and European tour took the sisters from the Neolithic Orkney Islands in northern Scotland to the top of Sweden, where the sun didn’t set. Winter followed them across the Atlantic to a studio in snowy Nova Scotia, Canada. “We were so inspired by the landscape, as well as the Grimm fairytale we’d been told when we were kids,” they say, so much so that their latest album’s title track, ‘Marlinchen in the Snow’, was born there.
Every element seemed to summon those old stories. A frozen lake became a wonderland where they wandered with cups of tea. “It was late at night and we were looking out into the woods. Woods, fir trees and snow are very much evocative of these European-based fairy tales,” they explain.
Even the ice added to the haunting beauty: “As the temperature shifted, it would vibrate across the lake in a phenomenon called a frost quake,” a sound that lingered like a note of folklore.
As the new year blooms, these narratives shared at venues like The Folklore Rooms operate as a patchwork quilt of experience, offering a hearty haven from winter chills. To some, it’s a sacred time for cosying up to strings and storytelling. To others, it’s an introspective mirror for what has been and a wishing stone for what is to come.
Don’t miss the spellbinding Charm of Finches on their UK tour at The Folklore Rooms, Feb 20 19:30.
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