The ‘dark side’ of the Calder valley allows no light during winter, and its draining effects on the human soul are more than just myth. There’s a bleakness that is all-encompassing, settling over the moors and deep valley sides, while residents hunker down and await spring. But drawing inspiration from the stark beauty of this legendary part of west Yorkshire is something that artists, writers such as Ben Myers and a whole host of musicians, have done for centuries. There’s good reason why creatives gravitate to this part of Yorkshire.
Todmorden-based experimental musician Bridget Hayden and the Apparitions new collection of eight traditional folk songs called Cold Blows the Rain, is steeped in the wildest of the valley’s weather, from drizzle in the dark stone streets to winds whipping across the moors. Keeping it all local, Bridget hired the town’s Oddfellow’s Hall to record these songs in the late summer of 2022 and the album is launched on Tod’s own label Basin Rock.
Although, just to fly in the face of this dramatic tale, Bridget says the weather was so good she ended up basking in every second of it and would rush indoors to record after sundown, working well into the night.
Sombre, spare and imbued with startling resonance by her haunting vocals, the songs on Cold Blows the Rain, are ones that she absorbed as a child from her mother and they feel deeply personal in their reinterpretation. The fiddle and especially the drone of the harmonium work to powerful effect, especially given the slow pace of the songs.
Lovely on the Water is chillingly beautiful, the notes of the fiddle weaving through Bridget’s steady vocals. And She Moved Through the Fayre is similarly stately in its pace as its doomy narrative unfolds. Particularly effective is her interpretation of Blackwater Side, with banjo and harmonium echoing this mournful tale of utmost betrayal.
“The weather speaks the most eloquently about human loss,” Bridget says. “It’s good to feel enveloped by something so much vaster than ourselves. The rain and the tears all become one.”
Unsurprisingly perhaps, Bridget has said her favourite thing to do in the valley is to “make the most of every tiny minute of sunshine.”
Bridget Hayden Cold Blows the Rain, release date 10th January 2025 on Basin Rock
Bridget Hayden Bandcamp