My Inspiration: Will Finn & Rosie Calvert – Fallow Alchemy

Fallow Alchemy is the new album by award-winning husband and wife duo Will Finn and Rosie Calvert. Made over a period of years this latest release explores the transformative power of rest and stillness in nature. 

Graduates of Newcastle’s Folk and Traditional Music program, they draw on influences from old English ballads to gothic Americana, resulting in a sound that is both captivating and inviting.

Here, the couple tell us what inspired the album…

We’ve been working on our new album, Fallow Alchemy, for a long time, and drew inspiration from a lot of different sources during the process. Initially, we were planning for this project to be a multi-media live show with accompanying live album (rather than a more traditional studio album), and it was going to be entirely themed around the animal kingdom. But we’ve both done a lot of learning and growing since our last album, and we’ve both leaned into the idea that sometimes, you need to know when to just give up on something!

Fallow Alchemy, as a concept, is about the radical and transformative power of rest and stillness – how the natural world requires a winter, a fallow period of hibernation, in order for growth and creativity and new life to burst forth. This album was made over a period of years with many ebbs and flows of creative energy, moving through various forms and stages until we came to a full stop, and surrendered to deep and considered rest. It was only after this that we were able to truly break through and create work that we were both excited by and proud of.

Interestingly, many of the songs we found ourselves drawn to are American versions of originally English traditional songs – the Leather-wing bat, The Trooper and the Maid, Mariah’s Gone, and were heavily influenced by several American artists – Jeff Warner, Peggy Seeger, Louden Wainwright III, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Cath Tyler, Anna and Elizabeth, the Blasting Company and many others. There’s something about the nature of movement within traditional music – the songs get passed from lips to ear across oceans and then back again, changed subtly or not-so-subtly to something new. 

We’re also super inspired by the other musicians in our lives – our former bandmate Alex Cumming had a hand in writing one of the tunes that has ended up on the album and there are lots of little lingering echoes of his style in it. Rosie originally learned The Swimming Song from our close friend Rhona Dalling, busking in Windows’ arcade probably about 11 years ago. And then there are all the amazing folks who came and guested on the album with us – Pete Ord (who also recorded and mixed it), Adam Stapleford, Bertie Armstrong, and Nicola Beazley – all incredible performers, all just general good eggs!

Inspiration also comes in lots of forms that you might not expect – the formalisation of the concept and theme came about after we read ‘Wintering’ by Katherine May, which really gets into the necessity of rest. She talks a lot about how humans are the only animal that don’t have a seasonal rest period of some form, because of the demands of capitalism and the working world, and it really struck a chord with us.

We’re really excited to be finally releasing this album into the world, it’s a funny thing to be actually finished making it after so long! And we’re very proud of it – the process to make it couldn’t have happened any other way, so we’re happy to champion the power of rest, and giving up on things when it’s the right thing for you!