Thirteen Notes
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The past few years have been incredibly challenging for the band, both personally and artistically. The outbreak of Covid-19 brought live music to a halt, limiting our ability to travel, perform, and connect with audiences. Festivals and community events vanished, and many live music venues closed their doors. While we eventually found a way to share some online house concerts, the loss of that intimate, in-person connection with our fans was deeply felt.
During this difficult period, we discovered that the best therapy was to keep our creativity alive. If we couldn’t perform, at least we could write! It was from these tough times that this double album was born, initially given the working title To the Wild, after one of the first songs we wrote during the lockdowns.
By chance, we reconnected with our friend and talented music producer David Pendragon and he offered to weave his magic to turn our writings into music. We feel so blessed by his wisdom, creativity and dedication to craft this album – thanks David!
As the musical production evolved and our collaboration matured, Thirteen Notes took on more meaning. It’s the number of notes spanning a perfect octave from the tonic up to and including the note with twice its frequency. And, as if by fate, all thirteen notes make their appearance on the album!
Track List
Disc 1
SPIRIT OF THE GREEN (Adrienne Piggott)
First recorded on ‘The Green Album’, a compilation of Pagan artists to raise money for The Rainforest Trust, here it is re-worked and featuring the latest Spiral Dance line-up.
HARE SPELL (Fay Hield)
Learned from the singing of Fay Hield (thank you Fay for granting us permission to record your wonderful song!), from her album ‘Wrackline’.
Fay notes: Taken from Isobel Gowdie’s witch trial confessions of 1622 where she shares this spell to transform into a hare. Following the pattern of finding magic within, the melody comes out of the words, using the corresponding note name letters to build the frame of the tune.
THE LAYS OF AMERGIN (Adrienne Piggott)
Turn it up LOUD!
This song is adapted from the ancient Irish poem ‘The Song of Amergin’ that is central to the Milesian legend and an important part of Gaelic mythology. The song is about how Amergin, the Milesian’s druid and poet sang an invocation to the spirit of Ireland to calm a violent storm and bring their ship safely to land, he then stepped from his boat and placed his right foot on the shore of Ireland for the very first time.
THIRTEEN NOTES (Adrienne Piggott)
The title track of this album, the song weaves together the legend of The King of the Birds with the traditional winter calendar custom of Hunting the Wren.
CERRIDWEN’S CHASE (Gladez / Katell) Jonathan Shorland
Two beautiful tunes from bagpiper extraordinaire Jonathan Shorland, named after his daughters, Gladez and Katell. We first heard them played by Anglo-Welsh band Fernhill. They seemed to capture the energy and drama of the chase, so here we dedicate them to the tale of Taliesin.
TO DREAM A RAVEN (Adrienne Piggott)
“Always trust your intuition, the raven said to me”.
The raven, a wise messenger representing ancient wisdom, intelligence, and also endings and death. These ebony enigmas inhabit the realm of visions and prophetic whispers and weave their way into our imagination. As pagans, we spend much of our lives honing and developing our sixth sense and our psychic perception but there are times you will be told you are imagining things, conjuring scenarios in your head. This is gaslighting. Always trust your intuition…
BLACK WATER DEEP (Adrienne Piggott)
From the lochs and pools in Scotland comes the shape shifting water spirit, the Kelpie and taking the form of a horse, would lure unsuspecting travellers to their death.
SEVEN SISTERS (Adrienne Piggott)
There are many stories and legends of the ‘Seven Sisters’ or the Pleiades Star Cluster, part of the Taurus Constellation, from Europe, Asia through to Australia and they all tell a similar tale.
Disc 2
TO THE WILD / DANCING HARE (Adrienne Piggott / Paul Gooding)
To the Wild is a song of transformation and longing born from visions during an initiation.
The tune Dancing Hare conjures visions of the Mad March Hare darting, bobbing and leaping in the Springtime fields.
MAN OF STRAW (Adrienne Piggott)
Mackenzie Crook’s version of Worzel Gummidge was the initial influence for this piece. A whimsical song that conjures up images of the verdant spring into the dusty, golden days of late summer, stretching through harvest and the turn of the season to chillier months. And while the scarecrow slumbers the magical crop circles appear…
PEBBLE BEACH / HERNE’S CONSORT (Paul Gooding)
These two compositions by Paul reflect deep personal connections and emotions. Pebble Beach takes his heart to the Suffolk coast, the place where he grew up, and is dedicated to a truly special person in his life. Herne’s Consort, written in honour of the Goddess, captures the raw, animalistic energies and passions that reside within us all.
MURRUNDI SONG (Adrienne Piggott)
The majestic Murrundi or Murray River is one of the longest navigable rivers in the world and is Australia’s longest river. The Ngarrindjeri are the Traditional Owners of the Lower Lakes, Murray Mouth and Coorong and along the River Murray as far north as Mannum here in South Australia and we acknowledge and pay our respects to them. The river was created by the tracks of the Great Ancestor, Ngurunderi, as he pursued Pondi, the giant cod fish.
Murrundi is our lifeblood, connecting and sustaining us, and its health determines our own. Yet, the river has been exploited and reduced to a commodity, stripped of its living essence, and its survival threatened by colonial beliefs that deny its true value. We must come to terms with our responsibility as custodians, honouring the river’s past, present, and future for the well-being of future generations and the land itself.
SWORDS OF WAYLAND (Adrienne Piggott)
From the legend of Wayland the Smith, the Saxon god of metalworking. This song first saw life as Wayland’s Steel back in 2005 but we were never really happy with it so here it is re-imagined and rebirthed with a new melody and chorus.
CUCKOO’S NEST / YOUNG COLLINS (Trad – arr. Paul Gooding)
Two traditional Morris tunes arranged by Paul – two finer melodies you are unlikely to hear! A big shout out to Graham and South Downs Morris for the inspiration to record Young Collins.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL (Adrienne Piggott)
At some stage of our lives there will come a time when we will all experience a ‘dark night of the soul’. Each of us will deal with this challenging experience in a different way; Adrienne’s was to write a song.
LET IT ALL WASH AWAY (Adrienne Piggott)
We all carry a shadow with us. There are moments when we must step into it and confront our demons in order to find peace. This song is about shadow work—the journey of healing and discovering how to embrace our true selves, ultimately finding the strength to move forward.
Performers
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Pendragon Studio
Assistant Engineer: Oscar Racso
Mixed and Mastered by David Pendragon
Produced by David Pendragon
All songs arranged by Spiral Dance except Cuckoo’s Nest / Young Collins arranged by Paul Gooding
Spirit of the Green, Cuckoo’s Nest / Young Collins recorded at Forest Range Studios by Lucinda Machin
Our heartfelt thanks to Rachael Hammond (https://rachaelhammond.com.au) for her artistic creativity in crafting Thirteen Notes artwork, Peter Hyde for his beautiful hand-crafted accordions, Fay Hield and Jonathan Shorland for allowing us to record their works with their blessing, and Nancy Chappell, Leo Lannigan and Evie Gooding for their assistance and input during the production of this album.
Starting on the snare drum as a youngster, Matt soon expanded his interests to playing the Drum Kit and dove headlong in to the world of Classic Rock.
Simon started learning violin as a young child, later studying at the Australian National University in Canberra and The Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance in Melbourne.
Residing in Naarm/Melbourne, Rena has been involved in musical performance on stage and behind the scenes for over 40 years. Her styles have mostly centred around rock, pop, folk and blues styles.