Rise Up Rise Up, by The Owl Service (2025)

For the last 3 months I've just been messing about with some ideas (both old and new), and reacquainting myself with the recording process (after 5 years away I'd forgotten almost everything I ever knew, which wasn't a great deal!). A lot of this EP sounds like a new direction for the band, but to be completely honest this has all been brought together without any kind of grand plan. The next thing we release will probably sound completely different again, but hopefully it will always sound like TOS at heart. The majority of this EP is just me, but I am extremely happy that Diana Collier and Laura Hulse both managed to take part too. The plan is for future releases to be far more of a collaborative effort - a few old faces have already expressed a desire to be on the next recordings and no doubt there'll be some new recruits as well.

'Asforteri 25' is a song originally by the Canterbury-based progressive group Caravan, and this short interlude is from their second album 'If I Could Do it All Over Again, I'd Do it All Over You'. I've been wanting to record a version of this for years, and I think it's pretty obvious why. I mean, either Paul Giovanni or Gary Carpenter surely heard this, didn't they?

'She Moves Through the Fair' isn't a song I'd ever really thought of doing before, but then I saw the 1978 British sci-fi horror film Prey (directed by the late, great Norman J Warren) and there's a scene in which 2 of the main characters host a small party in their house, and when they put a record on the turntable we hear a kind of funk-rock version of the song. It's very brief, but it made an impact on me. I have no idea who recorded the version for the film (if anyone knows please do tell), but I love it and it served as the inspiration for our version here.

'Dives & Lazarus' is a song I first heard performed by Andrew King, and then later I discovered the version by The Young Tradition on their self-titled album. I love both versions and it's a song I've wanted to record for over a decade. Our relatively stripped-down interpretation here is sung by Diana Collier, we hope to record a more full-on band version of the song at some point in the future.

I'm harking back to the very first Owl Service release with 'Interlude 13'. One of the biggest inspirations for me in the very early days of The Owl Service was The Memory Band, and I particularly liked their first 2 EPs. The interludes I recorded for 'Wake the Vaulted Echo' was my attempt at a kind of Memory Band thing; loops and samples of classic folk tracks mixed with some live instrumentation. As most of you will realise, this track is a reconstruction of 'Sandman's Song' by Anne Briggs.

'Crazy Man Michael' has always been one of my favourite Fairport songs so when Laura suggested recording a version I instantly said 'yes!'. Originally this was planned to be an unaccompanied version, but when I heard Laura singing it I thought I'd try a simple, sparse field organ backing. It felt to me to add even more yearning to an already achingly beautiful song, and so it stayed.

'To the Anti-Gallican' is based on an 18th century Northumbrian seafaring ballad entitled 'The Anti-Gallican Privateer' about a real ship built in and launched from Tyneside in 1779. Louis Killen recorded the song for Topic in the 1960s but I've never heard his version. The tune I've used is taken from the soundtrack to the 1968 film version of Up the Junction, recorded by the band Manfred Mann. I've always loved the soundtrack, and I just happened to watch the film for the umpteenth time whilst working on this EP and felt I had to do something with the recurring main theme. A quick search through some online folksong resources led me to the lyrics for 'The Anti-Gallican Privateer' and they fit the tune perfectly.

released June 6, 2021

Recorded, mixed & mastered at home by The Owl Service between March & June 2021. 'Dives & Lazarus' is sung by Diana Collier. 'Crazy Man Michael' is sung by Laura Hulse. Design & layout by Steven Collins.

Track 1 written by Coughlan, Hastings, Sinclair & Sinclair; Track 2 traditional arr. The Owl Service; Track 3 traditional arr. The Owl Service; Track 4 written by Anne Briggs, arranged & reconstructed by The Owl Service; Track 5 written by Richard Thompson & Dave Swarbrick; Track 6 traditional arr. The Owl Service, based on a tune written by Manfred Mann & Mike Hugg.

'She Moves Through the Fair' is dedicated to the memory of Norman J Warren - a true maverick.

Hobby-Horse/To Everybody / HHTE-001

MADE IN ESSEX

Rise Up Rise Up, by The Owl Service (2025)

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