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Beck Sian’s current album Ye OId Silent Inn, and new projects for 2013

Beck is Kate’s cousin’s and a talented songwriter and singer.  Her current album, released in October 2012 is The Old Silent Inn. Beck says this CD is “a night-time, up on the moors, wraiths, haunted staircases, and highwaymen, and very much influenced by the ghost stories and scenery surrounding The Old Silent Inn at Stanbury, near Haworth”

The tracks are as follows: Wycoller Hall, The Black Silk Handkerchief, The Moon on the 13th, Ye Olde Silent Inn, Down in Yon Forest, The Dark Stairs, The Moors, Lady of the Wind, Molly Malone, The Old Clock on the Stairs, Her Soul to a Highwayman, Top Withens, Tales of a Wayside Inn, and The Mirror in the Deserted Hall.

Listen to it in the Winter twilight by the flickering light of a candle, and not alone.

Here are Beck’s own notes on some of the tracks:

The Black Silk Handkerchief: I once fell in love with a traditional Irish song called ‘The Holland Handkerchief’ on a CD by American Celtic singer Connie Dover. Ever since that moment I knew I had to sing my own interpretation of it. It’s such a wonderful story-song.

Ye Olde Silent Inn: I have been very fortunate to have been invited repeatedly over the past few years to sing and perform in Haworth and Stanbury. For the past two years, when I have performed at the folk night organised by the Folk at the Wuthering Heights (at the Wuthering Heights Inn, Stanbury), I have stayed at the Old Silent Inn. I am an avid reader of books featuring true accounts of ghostly phenomena, and I had read all about the ghosts of the Old Silent long before I stayed there. I love the place. I love the name! I love its location. I love the stories. It’s been such an inspiration. I wrote this little song about it, and then it developed into a whole CD loosely based upon stories and places that surround the Old Silent.

Top Withens: What can I say?… If you’ve never walked out across the moors to Top Withens near Haworth, then you really must (if only because my CD will make more sense once you’ve experienced it (at the very least, look at images on the ‘net and imagine the wind wuthering and howling). I wrote this song as a tribute to the wind, and the spirits of the wind, and the memories lurking in the ruined farmhouse at Top Withens. In this song, with my voice, I try to BE that mischievious, heartless wind.

The Mirror in the Deserted Hall: With some of the most haunting, atmospheric music by Chris Gill that I have ever had the privilege to hear, I created a performance based upon the idea of sitting in an upstairs room in Wycoller Hall, but in my imaginings there are still floorboards there, and a cracked, dusty old mirror on the wall (or maybe I’m in East Riddlesdon Hall – another very haunted and moody building in the area). I’m in a dusty attic and I’m alone, but very aware of the sound of children laughing, toys being moved around by unseen hands and an old rocking horse moving back and forth by itself. A ghostly nanny flits about, looking for the children, unaware that many years have passed since the fire that took them all away…

You can purchase Ye Old Silent Inn CD at this link or you can download individual tracks or full albums here.

Beck’s has busy plans for 2013: “I intend to release two CDs in 2013!! Both will be slightly shorter than my previous CDs, and both will have strong themes, concepts and imagery. One will be a seasonal, frosty collection of Winter songs. The other will be a darker collection, allowing me to explore and experiment with my love of metal ballads and gothic themes and sounds. I am very, very excited about both projects, and I’m very much looking forward to working with the wonderful Steve Palmer again (engineer and co-producer of ‘Ye Olde Silent Inn’) and also my good friend Chris Gill. I also look forward to singing for Steve Palmer and Chris Gill on their own projects.”

Beck’s previous album was 2009’s Luminous Wings and Unseen Things, sixteen songs inspired by haunted gardens: Lavender’s Blue, In the Greenery, The Garden Seat, I Just Am, Siúil a Rúin, Down by the Salley Gardens, In a Secret Garden, Bushes & Briars, Old Mr. Crow, Tall, Waving Delphiniums in Storm-light, Thornfield, The Topiary Garden, She Moved Through the Faire, Weep Ye No More, Sad Fountains and bonus tracks Moss (Live), and Thornfield (Acoustic).

 

2006’s Unfurling, contained sixteen songs set within the light and shade of a Haunted Forest, featuring Celtic harp by Beck, didgeridoo by Stax: The Didgeman, keys by Paul Strahan, fiddle by Pieter Hart, bullroarer by Beck’s dad, David: Dungarvan, Unfurling, Moss, Tangled In Green, Shadow of a Dream, Greensleeves, Messages In Dreams, Under Thunderous Skies, The Blacksmith, Sherbrooke Forest, The Night Will Never Stay, The Foggy Dew, Mountain Ash, and Bonus Tracks Strahany’s ‘Black’ Mix, Ethereal, and Dream Beneath Trees.

These albums are available from iTunes or Beck’s website.

You can follow Beck on Facebook.

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9 Comments

  1. Mark

    Moors? Winter songs? Her hair style? It seems like Ms. Sian is taking inspiration from her cousin…

  2. Keith

    Was surprised at how much I liked Beck’s recording. It didn’t sound particularly appealing on paper, but it held my interest, and I’m looking forward to another listen (it’s available via Spotify.) I was particularly happy to hear John Carder Bush on one track! At first, I wasn’t sure it was him, and thought it was a sound-alike; but, I did a bit of research on the track and found that it was, indeed, John. Very nice. Beck seems to be quite open about the influence Kate has had on her work, but I do hear an original voice in Beck; and, I wasn’t put off by the folksiness as I thought I would be. The cover photo and press photos are another thing though–ugh.

  3. Nanette

    Everybody starts out being influenced by someone, and Beck has certainly picked the best. Go, Beck! Find your voice!

  4. fredo

    Hmm the more about other artists on this nice site, the less i am likely to check back i must say. I’d prefer just Kate related news:)

    • You should click on the Kate News category if you want to filter everything else out. At HomeGround we always covered other and related artists. We always have done on this site.

  5. Working with Beck was a great experience last year. She certainly has got her own voice, her own inspirations and her own vision – there can be no doubt about this. A lot of what Beck does is rooted in landscape, as opposed to more social/cultural inspirations. She is a unique talent with a unique voice. I’m looking forward to her singing my songs, and to recording and producing the new material she is currently writing.

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