Steve Peck writes: A fleeting tip put me on the trail of North Yorkshire and London-based folk eccentric Natalie Wildgoose. Little did I know I would stumble upon a mysterious and evocative artist who has since turned my musical world upside down. She’s not like anything I’ve heard before.
A short while back, Yorkshire folk artist Chris Brain posted a Facebook ‘story’ about a new single by a female artist I hadn’t heard of. Her name had an exotic ring to it and I wanted to learn more. But before I knew it, the story disappeared (as they are wont to do), and I didn’t remember the name. Damn!
For some unexplained reason, I couldn’t let it rest. I found no trace of who Brain was talking about, which only made me more determined to find out. My last resort was to contact him directly through Messenger. I highly doubted I’d get a response, but within an hour he replied.
Her name is Natalie Wildgoose. How appropriate, given the ‘wild goose’ chase I’d been on tracking her down.
Photo by Matt Robinson
Have you ever had one of those experiences where within the first minute of hearing a new artist, you know it’s something remarkable, something that’s going to change you and your musical landscape?
The song was In the North. A spacious, sparse piano rolls in like a gentle, hazy mist, setting up a voice that sounds like a songbird circling high above the hills, or like a distant siren calling from the rocks down the coast.
Gorgeous, quiet, it sounds ageless with a lilting melody that is beguiling, enchanting and mood-altering.
I felt like I had left my house 4,000 miles away and was standing on the looming hillsides of North Yorkshire. I was transfixed, spellbound.
In the North,
The fog runs off,
The moorside that closes above us
A sodden walk,
Along the wharf,
Where the lamplight glows and the dark sky brews where the sheep lie
Natalie Wildgoose told Matt Ryan with Jammerzine:
The song was recorded nearby [in Yorkshire], in a chapel, which has been the location for friends’ weddings and funerals. I wrote it while reflecting on the loss of my grandad; its sentiment is that those we love are never truly gone, their presence lingers in the heather, on the moors, in the rolling fog.
After further digging, I discovered that her recorded output was fairly limited, two solo EPs and two as part of the folk duo Wanderland.
I quickly found Come Into the Garden, which was released this past May. Like In the North, it felt as though I was stepping into another world. It’s six songs, 17 minutes long, each recorded on a different upright piano in varying locations around her native North Yorkshire, including local town halls, isolated chapels on the edge of the moors, even an old mill.
Video capture from Wildgoose’s A Joy of Some Kind music video
Wildgoose captured her magic on analog tape, giving the music a warm, lo-fi glow. You feel like you’re listening from somewhere in the back of the room, or floating high above near the vaulted ceiling as you look down and see the young lady hunched over the piano. Calling this music atmospheric is an understatement.
Ghostly piano drifts in as the first song, Introduction, opens the door to a quivering voice singing impressionistic lyrics to the tune of a simple melody, bare and fragile. It’s almost as if you’re listening to an antique music box in a very old house. It’s that kind of vibe.
Video capture from the In the North music video
Hand Me a Piece of Your Heart conjures up memories of a lost Joni Mitchell piano ballad, while I Lingered and Blackberries reveal both sunlight and nature. Angel is an earthy bygone ballad that you could easily imagine sung seventy-some years ago.
The title track continues in this vein and reminds me of something by the great Tom Waits, alone at the piano. While it loosely references the Victorian parlour song Come into the Garden Maud, the gospel-like chorus opens wide and literally invites you through the garden gates.
Everything about this project is intentional, but never sounds scripted. The music invites you to slow down and truly listen, flowing naturally and unrehearsed. Beneath the atmospherics are lyrics steeped in imagery that inspire reflection and curiosity. Its dreamlike, timeless quality is exactly what Wildgoose sought to capture.
Natalie Wildgoose will be an interesting artist to watch as her career unfolds. Her background is diverse, including a postgraduate diploma in jazz vocals and a BA in costume design. In her recent recordings, she removes all embellishments and presents herself in simple, unadorned, lo-fi fashion. Devoid of artifice, the essence of her music is spellbinding.
Steve Peck also writes at his Facebook music blog Hickory Notes.
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