In Conversation With #218 - Stornoway
Known for bringing music and conversation together - Stornoway have just released their new album 'Beyonder' via Cooking Vinyl.
Born from isolation and exploration, it confronts the biodiversity and climate crises, the rise of divisive politics, and the toll these pressures take on minds and communities. But above all BEYONDER is an album of wild hope, using music to bring people closer to nature and to each other.
BEYONDER began on the highest sea cliffs in Britain. On St Kilda, 100km west of the Outer Hebrides, Briggs stood 430 metres above the Atlantic with no land between him and Canada, surrounded by wheeling fulmars and dive-bombing skuas. "I was in their world, I couldn't survive here for long," he says. A photograph he took that day now forms the album cover and marked the start of a creative rebirth.
At a time when the world can feel increasingly divided, BEYONDER is about bringing people together. Singing is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to do that: to find a shared voice, celebrate community and remind us of what connects us all.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there, how are you? So your album is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?
Giddy. The songs date back to Brian's weeks inhabiting St Kilda, and go on to explore many continents across both hemispheres. That scale is gigantic BUT my favourite part has been the local impact: hearing it land with people in person, at instores, festivals, in videos we've received from fanclub members... and from the hundreds of singers who learnt our songs for the official launch concert at the Sheldonian Theatre in the band’s hometown, back where it all started. Experiencing both these scales at once… a unique kind of vertigo.
It is called 'Beyonder' – what is the meaning behind that?
Still exploring that one myself. Maybe a Beyonder is someone who's drawn to what lies past the horizon: an explorer, a wanderer, going beyond their comfort zone, undertaking journeys & choices, somehow staying hopeful when the world feels unsettled. Or perhaps humanity needs to "Be Yonder" in these chaotic modern times, where it's too easy to retreat into the solitude of a smart phone. Yonderness: a kind of mindfulness & empathy that builds bridges between polarised communities. I like word’s unsettledness: it lets the listener Choose Your Own Adventure.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
Produced it ourselves and engineered most of it in our own home studios, with selected outside input. Here in South East London my bass sounds were honed by the expert advice of J Wilgoose Esq and luthier Laurence Dixon but, again, we contrasted the local with the international: Oli Jacobs mixed every track at his world-class setup in California. The most exciting adventure was to Durban where we recorded 'The Honeyeater's Song' with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Having myself grown up in South Africa learning to speak Zulu and sing their isicathamiya and mbube singing styles, being in that room felt like a full-circle moment.
What are the key influences behind the album?
The natural world: seabird cliffs, oceans, rivers... and the geese, gannets, shearwaters and honeyeaters that flit through the lyrics. Brian grew up devouring books about explorers like Jacques Cousteau and Thor Heyerdahl, and that spirit runs through 'Marco Polo'. Part of my personal aim musically was for us to step beyond "folk" and embrace "post-folk" (this doesn't mean "post-human" even though the planet might feel like it's headed that way). The guest vocals from Ladysmith Black Mambazo, community choirs Syrinx & Sound, and Daisy Chute, each pushed us towards bigger harmonies and a broader sound in which communities collaborate who might not otherwise have found each other, in this increasingly polarised world.
If the album could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty... It's about a daydreamer who finally leaves his desk and throws himself at the wild edges of the world, all to track down a single photograph. Beyonder’s cover art is a photo Brian personally took on St Kilda, and the whole record is about stepping off the edge of the everyday into something bigger (this is what Stornoway’s been singing about since our debut album’s “We Are The Battery Human”). We as a band are not always sensible about it (like Walter): in Durban this summer, Brian & I hopped a cordon onto a condemned bridge, just to get round a lagoon and see some exotic birdlife. Mr Mitty is often in the back of my mind during such escapades… W stands for Walter!
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
"Hawu, cisha umlilo, uyavutha!" is Zulu for "Fire! The house is aflame!"... that's our alarm call about collapsing biodiversity. It opens “The Honeyeater’s Song” which tells of an Australian perching bird so rare that the juveniles barely ever hear the adults sing; the species is forgetting its own song. This is a perfect echo of what's happening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo (our collaborators on the track): their tradition survives because elders teach newcomers to sing. It’s an honour to have played our small part in preserving their tradition, connecting them to a younger audience.
Now the album is out there – what next for you?
Lots of singing! We launched the album at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre with a scratch choir of almost 400 volunteer voices, on World Rivers Day; we want to do a lot more of this in 2027. The Beyonder tour runs Oct-Feb finishing at Shepherd's Bush Empire. Away from the stage, I've also started our "Beyonder running club" called Free Range Humans, where fans join us on the morning before/after a gig to run, walk, or swim with us. Loads have signed up already... come along, join in, and Free The Battery Human!
