The Happy Couple are Judith Goodman and David Ross, a unique ambient folk duo who make music inspired by the beautiful countryside surrounding their home in the Yare Valley on the Norfolk Broads. They can often be heard playing at their favourite spots, such as the ruin of St. Saviour’s, Penguin Dyke or in the secluded backwater known as Newman’s Hole, bobbing along in their rowing boat.
Their new album, ‘Lullaby of Broadland’, contains peaceful yet profound music that is a reflection of the intimate relationship they have to the area and each other. These evocative instrumentals slowly unwind to describe the clear starry night skies reflected in the watery Broadland landscape, the murmuration of birds and micro-worlds of insects, plants, fungi and lichen.
A video has been made for the track ‘Sparkling Horizon’, which consists of a slowly shifting slideshow of photographic stills that appear to be cosmic/celestial images. However, they are actually unedited close-up photos of split flints in their own garden wall that separates them from a church next door. Flint is found naturally all over Norfolk and has been commonly used as a building material in churches and houses since the Middle Ages. The wall itself is revealed in the last shot.
The album sees Goodman perform on a number of stringed instruments that include lap steel, tenor guitar, cittern and the rarely heard Stoessel lute. Ross is a virtuoso of the mouth bow and Jew’s harp, which he combines with subtle live electronics, while the duo also add some local field recordings.
“These tunes were mainly recorded over the long winter evenings at the start of 2023,” the duo explain. “They aim to convey our sense of awe, love and appreciation for the beautiful Broadland environment around us at this time of year. All the recordings are unedited performances made in real-time as this seems to be the best way for us to capture the right feeling in the music. Each piece represents a specific moment in time.”
In regard to the field recordings, they continue: “the only overdubs are sounds foraged from some of our favourite haunts. You can hear our noisy neighbours the sheep, chattering away in the field opposite, a tawny owl traversing Church Marsh at dusk and the gentle lapping of the river Yare at first light. A bark from a muntjac deer recorded at Wheatfen appears momentarily during ‘Breathing’ and a thrush singing by Bargate broad – heard from ‘Smile’, the rowing boat on the front cover – closes the album. These are the sounds and places that inspire us and where we go to write, play and hear our songs modulated by the breeze and birdsong, through the swaying reeds.”
The Happy Couple have been featured on BBC Radio 3 (Late Junction), BBC 6 Music (Cerys Matthews, Riley & Coe, Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone) and The Nest Collective (Sam Lee’s Singing with Nightingales: Homecoming). Their live performances have included shows at Cecil Sharp House, The Southbank Centre and Bath Folk Festival.
LIVE IN LONDON
30.10.24
Le Club Pubtronique
Amersham Arms SE14
tickets
LULLABY OF BROADLAND
new album
out 29.11.24
(Dimple Discs)
