The title for this collection of pieces comes from Shakespeare, referring to the woods where the wild flowers grow – those enchanted spaces, secret, unplanted, untended, transcending time and place. Today, we can extend these spaces to include a whole range of unmanaged and neglected spaces; railway embankments, the wastelands behind factories and roadside cafes, the banks of motorways where unfortunate drivers wait for the recovery trucks … These are the spaces we do not seek out, but they are the places where we will often find what Shakespeare found – wild flowers.
From new life to death, from purity to passion, wild flowers have had many meanings in myths and legends. Flowers are associated with youth, beauty, and pleasure. But as they wilt and die, flowers represent fragility and the swift passage from life into death.
These themes, coupled with the sheer variety and beauty to be found in flowers provides plenty of scope for artistic reflection.
Listen to the album here:
And readers of my blog can download for free one of my favourite tracks from the album on Bandcamp. Simply click this link to Dog Rose – the band of scarlet and help yourself!
david ashworth 