Teesside songsmith Glad Town Ghost releases his new single, England’s Hurricane Season. Complete with tenderly sung lyrics, beautiful harmonies from Bee Davison, and intricate guitar work, the atmospheric track reflects on what it feels like to be a working-class Englishman in the current climate.
Here, Glad Town Ghost (AKA Dale Husband) tells us about the inspirations behind the track…
England’s Hurricane Season is the closest to a political song I have come to, I avoid protest songs as I don’t feel I can write them very well, the words came about in early 2025 due to how divided I felt our country had become, especially areas close to my own roots in Teesside and East Cleveland, as a white working class English man, I feel lost at times with how hate filled our land is, I try to practise ekphrasis – the process of writing whilst viewing images, and was looking at the famous ‘Bella in the wych elm’ graffiti, it felt like a good metaphor for Englishness in the modern age, for me at least.
I drafted and re-drafted the lyrics a lot, and included a lot of references to the USA or linguistic Americanisms, this was to try to illustrate how I feel this cultural shift is a negative influence on the U.K.
Musically, I wanted to tow the line between Acoustic and Electronic styles, Chris Groom on synths added some lovely pads, and we included an old sample about immigration which still rings true today, I had the initial verse idea for the Guitar part for a long time and it finally found a home in this song.
I knew I wanted this to be quite a maximalist sounding song, as far as my music goes, I tried to reflect this in both adding the electric guitar textures, and also the lyrics before the final chorus – “It’s always joy, coming to catch us, whenever we fall. Joy writes the saddest songs of all” were added last in an attempt at something big and Glen Campbell-esque. I sometimes shy away from doing so, but feel it was thematically appropriate to do so.
The song ultimately views Englishness as something we must work on together, in order to become closer as humans.
Another inspiration for the writing of this song was the Gabriel Moreno song ‘We Can Write England All Over Again’. He is an artist I admire greatly and I have heard this song a lot live, it does a great job of addressing the state of the nation poetically whilst not being a direct protest song as such.
I remember writing this song nearly 2 years ago and the division in our country has grown so much since, I hope it heals soon.
