Released in collaboration with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's 'Give Peat a Chance' campaign. Raising awareness of the importance of peat bog conservation.

Atlas

Written for the PLACE collective science and arts research project, Watershed. Inspired by interviews with people in the Ullswater Valley.
More info on the project here - https://theplacecollective.org/watershed/

Tethera Tan Yan

“At Sea” remembers the choppy sailing journey I took between Shetland and the Faroes on my way to Iceland by boat. Using cello loops, ocean recordings from the journey, and the unmistakable playing of the pedal steel by BJ Cole, an atmospheric sea-scape is conjured into being, alongside Sarah’s plaintive and elemental vocals. This is a song about being at the mercy of wind and tides, and completely giving yourself over to nature. 
It’s taken me a while to write about this experience, because it was so hard to pin down. Sailing is like no other way of travelling, and so I began playing around with ideas of being suspended in water – how we all are before we are born, how the boat was carrying us, how my musical partner Sophie, on board with me, was pregnant. Every time we were on deck we had to clip onto the boat so as not to fall into the sea. It was our very own life- line, our own umbilical cord. This idea of being “tethered and floating” at the same time seemed, all of a sudden, a very real metaphor for much of life’s struggles, not just the way we grow in the womb, or sail on the ocean. And so, the kernel of a new song was born. 
  It wasn’t until 2023 that I began to record this piece, honing it as a live performance with my loop pedal, and taking a while to finish the lyrics. This is where the story creates its own magic. Without having planned it this way, it turned out that I recorded the song when I was pregnant. It is the only recording I will have of myself in those early stages of pregnancy. The story then turns dark here, because my pregnancy was lost a couple of months later. It drifted out to sea. 
    For me, this song has a very personal, multi-layered meaning, and I think some songs just end up that way as we go through life. It also feels like this one needs to connect with lots of people. I have spoken publicly about my baby loss, and have received such supportive messages in return – this subject is still not spoken about enough, and many women and their families feel isolated and alone through this grief.

At Sea

Sarah's creative career is founded on years of collaboration and a deep passion for the environment, having grown up close to nature in the Yorkshire Dales, and fostering strong connections to the West Coast of Scotland. 

Throughout the past decade of working with other musicians, Sarah has gained a reputation for her unique cello playing and beautiful string arrangements, with an ear for vocal harmonies and  improvisation.

Her solo performances are imbued with visceral story-telling, bristling with atmosphere created with looped cello, haunting melodies and deeply felt lyrics. Audience members are left feeling transported and mesmerised,  with  sounds and rhythms that are never too far from the sea.

Currently  Sarah performs her solo show, 'Eyjar', inspired by a   musical journey over land and sea to Iceland by boat, via Orkney, Shetland and The Faroes. The journey was made alongside singer Sophie Ramsay, with whom she played concerts on each island. They travelled intentionally slowly, so that each island had time to make an impression, for the sounds of the birds and their local dialect names to sink in,  and for collaborations with local musicians to take place.  These experiences have culminated in a  show that explores human relationships with nature, climate change and sense of place through  music, poetry and spoken word,  stitched together by cello-driven sound-scapes.

Sarah's love of collaboration continues  with her work alongside environmental organisations, creating online content for their campaigns, such as Greenpeace and the Yorkshire Peat Partnership.

Sarah Smout

Popular tracks