We Know by the Moon is the latest album from award-winning English/Scottish group The Furrow Collective (Lucy Farrell, Rachel Newton, Emily Portman and Alasdair Roberts). Recorded with long-time producer Andy Bell between Glasgow and Sheffield in early 2023, ten years after the band's formation, the album has a lunar theme:
"The moon, the stars, darkness and night are threads woven through these songs. Songs to be listened to after dark, by candlelight, firelight, or under the cold, steady light of our constant lunar companion." The Furrow Collective
A wintry album of moonlit serenades and starlit balladry, We Know by the Moon showcases the group's characteristic array of musical talents and ability to source and transform the quirkiest of folk songs, honed over a full decade of playing and singing together. The band's voices blend in harmony singing at its rawest, with understated and sensitive instrumental accompaniment, featuring harp, guitars, piano and viola.
The 11 tracks feature songs from England, Scotland and beyond; from 's Fhada Leam an Oidhche Gheamhraidh', the homesick Gaelic lament of an Isle of Lewis emigrant, to Robert Burns' 'O, Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast', as well as a foray into the German language with Schubert's 'Der Leiermann (The Hurdy-Gurdy Man)' and an unaccompanied vocal version of 'Oh Watch the Stars', learnt from a record by The Seeger Sisters. The record features spellbinding illustrations by May Farrell (Lucy's mum) to accompany each song.
