The first weeks of lockdown were, for most musicians, the most perplexing and worrying of our careers. We found ourselves thrust into a state of flux and uncertainty, and then into a phase of gradual realisation that our livelihoods and means of expression were effectively cancelled for the time being.
Our biggest Shards shows to date - a showcase at SXSW in Austin, Texas; a show at the Barbican in London; the launch of my residency at the Muziekgebouw in Eindhoven; a live BBC Radio 3 Broadcast with orchestra (!) and much more - were all cancelled one by one. For a long time it seemed as though the government would not support those who were self employed; despite the recently announced package, many musicians (myself included) slipped through the gaps and have still received no support.
As I read stories and outpourings of grief from fellow musicians online, I felt that the only music I could bring myself to write in those first few weeks was something which engaged with the situation we found ourselves in. So I asked a number of musician friends and pen-pals if they would remotely contribute vocals to form an ‘Isolation Choir’ and sing something I would pen in response to the sudden pandemic.
The result was ‘Inside I’ll Sing’, a simple, folk-like song whose lyrics drew from the real experiences of musicians I had read about or spoken to about their worries and hopes for the future. It was a privilege to receive the recordings back from the all-star cast of amazing singers (full list below), who sent their contributions from around the UK, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Australia and the US.
While piecing together this mosaic and blending the voices in as they arrived in my inbox, I got speaking to Fiona Burgess (whose beautiful and distinct voice fronts the band Woman’s Hour) about ideas for a video. By some miraculous stroke of luck, she had some unused footage of two dancers in a disused space which she had wanted to find a home for. Fiona and her orbit of uber-generous collaborators worked tirelessly to edit and grade a video which looks like it was made specifically with the song in mind. We can’t thank them enough.
Shortly after its release, ‘Inside I’ll Sing’ was played in the Channel 4 documentary, ‘NHS Heroes: Fighting to Save Our Lives’.
All proceeds from the recording of the song will go towards Help Musicians UK, please do consider buying the song on Bandcamp.
This iteration of Shards & Isolation Choir featured the voices and contributions of:
Ana Silvera , Anna Meredith, Douglas Dare, Fiona Jane Burgess, Gabriella Swallow, Hatis Noit, Héloïse Werner, JFDR, Jack Lawrence-Jones, Joe Newman (Alt-J), Jonathan Donahue (Mercury Rev), Josephine Stephenson, Kate Huggett, Luke Howard, Matt Huxley, Rose Martin, Red Moon, Sin Fang & William Doyle.