Sound of the Sirens are Abbe Martin and Hannah Wood, a folk-orientated duo from Southwest England.
The themes of this album focus mainly on the absence of certainties in life and graciously accepting the inevitability of growing old.
These are tunes about coming to terms with the fact that life has no rewind button.
An alternative album cover could have been Goya’s ‘The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters’ since this etching encapsulates the need to resist darkness and embrace light; a theme which underpins the eleven songs on this album.
This wisdom is particularly evident in Sacred Dreaming a song about chasing away the demons in our heads and overcoming our nightmares.
The downside of being burdened by depression is addressed in Coming Back which speaks to the power of resilience and renewal.
Chasing Skies is about the urgency of making the most of one’s time and recognizing that “joy is contagious.”
The closing track, To The End, focuses on the importance of letting go of negative memories and looking to the present moment with hope.
Close harmonies, strong melodies and simple acoustic arrangements provide an airiness which makes this a record more about the virtues of emotional honesty than the vices of brooding and stagnation.
