Music to watch birds by

Martin Simpson appears to like the northeast in winter. Last November we saw him at the Davy Lamp to the accompaniment of fireworks, and last night we saw him at the Sage. Looking back, I see that previous visits - perhaps that should be, previous solo visits - have also tended to cluster in the dark months. I see also that anything I might have wanted to say about last night's show would be a repetition of what I said last year: oh, one thing that I didn't recognise was a version of the song that I know as East Virginia, from the singing of Joan Baez. Also, we still have Emily Portman's Bones and Feathers introduced as the last song, but the "encore" which follows it is now Dark Swift, Bright Swallow, a much stronger finale. I'd have liked to offer a compare and contrast of Bones and Feathers, but although both versions are on YouTube, I wasn't very satisfied with either - so instead here's another of the evening's highlights:

"Martin Simpson - Palaces Of Gold" (Watch on Vimeo)

Leon Rosselson's Palaces of Gold from Sam Jordan Films on Vimeo.