Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn - Songs For The Trees

by Zena Grieg

published: 8 / 6 / 2025

Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn - Songs For The Trees

Label: Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn
Format: CD

intro

Ethereal latest album from singer-songwriter and musician Kate Daisy Grant and multi-instrumentalist Nick Pynn

Singer-songwriter and musician Kate Daisy Grant, together with multi-instrumentalist, partner Nick Pynn, received critical acclaim for their live-looped shows at the Edinburgh and Brighton Fringes and for her debut album ‘Kate Daisy Grant’ in 2011 and follow-up ‘Portrait’ in 2014. Their latest album, ‘Songs For The Trees’ is a striking collection of original songs, composed after Grant was invited to collaborate with renowned storyteller Xanthe Gresham-Knight throughout 2024 for Newhaven’s Guesthouse Storytellers, with Grant writing and performing a song every month to commemorate the trees of the Ogham (Druidic poetic language from ancient Ireland and Scotland). The songs reach back into the collective memory, green folklore and the centuries-old spiritual dependence on trees. Each track on the album celebrates a different species of tree, each song with its own musical style, all set against a captivating tapestry of a myriad of instruments including mandolin, cello, autoharp, oud and violas. The songs revolve around primordial themes - life, death, war, love and passion, at their core the omnipresent trees. Songs to listen out for in this thirteen-track collection include: the opener, the minimalist ‘Oh Silverskin (For The Birch)’, setting the scene; the atmospheric ‘Fearn (Alder Song)’ with its foreboding lyrics; the intricate instrumental ‘Elder’ with its electrifying dulcimer; ‘The Yew Tree On The Downs’ with Grant’s resonating vocals bringing to life lyrics from D.H. Lawrence; the plaintive, haunting ‘The Shadow On the Lowlands (Willow Song)’ with its unforgiving lines: “I can hear him still/I can see him still/Like the shadow on the lowland/A hawk above the hill”; the cascading ‘Oh Joy, Wassail (For the Apple)’; stripped-back ‘Bring Us Back To Life (For the Oak)’, showcasing Grant’s mesmerising voice; and the hypnotic, engrossing closer ‘Pine Song (Where Do I Go From Here?)’. Ethereal, replete with unexpected, enthralling moments, ‘Songs For The Trees’ is an album which reverberates long after.

Track Listing:-

1 Oh Silverskin (For the Birch)
2 Fearn (Alder Song)
3 Mother Elder
4 Od's Song (For the Ash Tree)
5 The Yew Tree on the Downs
6 The Rowan Tree
7 The Shadow on the Lowlands (Willow Song)
8 Queen of May (For the Hawthorn)
9 Keening Song (For the Hazel)
10 Oh Joy, Wassail (For the Apple)
11 Bring us Back to Life (For the Oak)
12 Holly
13 Pine Song (Where Do I Go From Here?)

Band Links:-

https://www.katedaisygrant.com/
https://www.facebook.com/katedaisygrantmusic
https://www.instagram.com/katedaisygrant/
https://katedaisygrant.bandcamp.com/
https://www.nickpynnmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/nickpynn