Well, this is a lovely Christmas gift to all. I’ve listened to this a few times now and it makes wonderful listening.

Many many thanks to Rebekkah Hilgraves for not only playing my Winter Solstice challenge track ‘Rainbirds'( A Very English Winter) but also my track ‘Geese’ on her Edges of Dreaming radio show.

The challenge –
“Create a track that sounds like the deepest part of winter and that also welcomes the return of the light”

As another year draws to a close, I sit and watch the fading light as a gale blows outside and the rain lashes against the window pane.
Exactly what winter is like here.

Actually, apart from the rain and wind, winter for me has always been the sound of rooks and crows. There’s something quite atmospheric about their calls and remind me of misty winter mornings looking across fields to the woodlands.
Then one rainy morning, a robin sat on our garden fence and sang with all his might. Through the grey downpour, a little spark of red in full throttle glory was a joy to hear and a sonic light in the darkness.

Crows gather, thunder rumbles, and the synth patterns combine to not only represent raindrops but also the passing of time in a repetitive motion. Amongst this, electronic birds sing out, after all, birds are also the harbingers of a future spring. Finally, shafts of light break through the sound.
Rainbirds is for me a representation of a very English winter.