Rachel Taylor-Beales - Stone's Throw - Lament Of The Selkie (2015)

Stone’s Throw, Lament Of The Selkie is a dark folklore concept tale based around Selkie mythology from the Orkney Isles. The lyrics chart a tragic story of Selkie, who over the arc of the narrative finds herself struggling and unable to sustain life on land with her land-bound partner and eventually returns herself to the sea leaving her partner grief stricken with loss.

Rachel has brought together her ever-growing and eclectic grouping of musicians to this project.

Paul Gray (formerly of The Damned, UFO, Eddie and The Hotrods) guests on bass and acclaimed virtuoso guitarist Dylan Fowler returns providing slide guitar and sonic textures. Lucy River’s versatile violin nuances a folk edge to the songs, whilst Angharad Evans backing vocals and Rosy Robinson’s cellos enhance with rich harmonic textures and tones. Rachel’s brother Shane Beales makes a guest appearance on percussion leaving the rest of the breadth of instrumentation to herself and husband Bill, including guitars, piano, organ, ukulele, with additional percussion and bass.

The overall vibe is a rich and intricate sound palette that embeds the album’s narrative in Rachel's evocative sonic world.