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Green Man α - Barton upon Humber - St Peter

from Green Man α Barton upon Humber St Peters by Temple Music

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This is the first in a series of seven long pieces inspired by different Green Man locations in the county of Lincolnshire, England. The Humber (an ancient name, simply meaning 'river') itself is a huge tidal river and estuary on the East coast, North of The Wash and South and South of the eerie Spurn Head, whilst Barton, once an Anglo-Saxon settlement and, by Mediaeval times, the wealthiest and most important port on this gateway to the ancient kingdoms, is now a sleepy place in terminal decline, temporarily arrested by tourism and commuter housing for Hull. In St Peter's church, which is part Anglo-Saxon and parts 13th century there are wonderful Green Man column capitals making it a national, as well as a Lincolnshire, treasure.
This meeting place of land and sea, earth and water, subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, seems a strange place to find the Green Man. There is a majestic and echoing emptiness all across the estuary even now; how much more strange and magnificent it must have seemed to the Saxon longships as they nosed cautiously over the mudbanks when the distant shores were cloaked in the rippling greens of the ancient forest. Not naturally a seagoing mercantile folk, they nevertheless came to rely upon trade from far away while also remaining close to the land for their everyday needs, hopes and fears; and to bolster and allay these they brought with them the ancient deity of the woods. Here mingled strange tongues, spices, woodsmoke; traders in metals and ceramics sat with farmers in taverns whilst sheets of rain lashed the open waters and the ships stirred and tossed uneasily in the haven. And from his place in the woods and homesteads, on the carved gables of the town, in the hearts and minds of the people, the Green Man watches over all.
For this dense, shifting piece, we looked, as best we could, into the heart of the land and tried to evoke the spirit of place, of the vast open spaces and the echoes of distant shores and distant times. The Humber estuary is both lonely and strange; there is no comfort in it. The eyes that watch it and preside over it are not friendly eyes.
SR & AT, 03 09 07 ev, Lincolnshire

lyrics

All the World is drown'd
Roots of Trees are drown'd
Ocean breathes and sleeps
Leaf and Branch are drown'd
Here I breathe and sleep

credits

from Green Man α Barton upon Humber St Peters, released July 15, 2016
Tracy Jeffery - Harp, Vox
Stephen Robinson - Bass, 3 Drone Harmonium, Lapp Frame Drum
Alan Trench - Lyre, Dulcimer, Guitar, VSS30, Birds, Rainstick

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Temple Music Lincoln, UK

Temple Music was started in 1995 as an offshoot of the English dark folk band ORCHIS and their interest in ancient Greek modal music, drone, magical trance states and krautrock. The permanent members are Alan Trench and Steve Robinson; creating shifting walls of noise; moments of arctic intensity; unsettling;demanding attention ... rhythm and chaos combined... ... more

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