This was recorded for Old Tunes Fresh Takes podcast episode 9, a recording of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Owlet .

For this I tried to use as many historical instruments (lute, recorder, hand drums, frame drums) as I could, but tried to make the actual composition more modern than historical. I had the cellos play a throbbing simple line of just the chords’ roots so that at first it sounds almost like singing over a drone, like you'd hear with a hurdygurdy or a lot of renaissance music.

I put a few measures instrumental in between each pair of verses to allow the listener some time to digest the story, since it’s a lot to take all at once. I tried to vary up the instrumentation from verse to verse to keep the listener interested and for it not to start to feel formulaic, which I think is a danger on longer compositions that are strophic/verse based.

Child Owlet

Josh Kirch is a musician and composer who started with guitar, and he soon moved to classical guitar and performing in a guitar quartet - really enjoying the range of repertoire and especially the Renaissance pieces available. This eventually led him to start learning the lute and cello.
His compositions often mix electronic elements with classical and early music instrumentation and themes, as well as more standard rock and folk  moments.