Another winter is passing and on a dark and stormy night, we built a fire, poured a healthy measure of a decent fiery spirit and settled down to watch Kenneth Branagh in the first two series of Wallander.

While I found the series itself interesting and entertaining, by the time I had watched just a couple of episodes, I was much more intrigued by the theme tune; a haunting folk arrangement which even reduced to only a few bars for the opening credits, made every hair on the back of my neck stand up straight.

As the night rolled on and the fire died down, I hopped online and discovered that the original piece in question is called “Nostalgia” and the composer of this Midwinter masterpiece was Emily Barker. After visiting her website and listening to a large selection of samples I put my hand in my proverbial PayPal pocket and bought a copy of an early album: “The Dark Road” which has quickly become a personal favourite.

Shortly afterwards, I purchased a copy of the 2008 album “Despite The Snow” – a fantastic arrangement in perfect symphony with the renowned chamber folk Trio “the Red Clay Halo“. Heart-full and real, this album is a near-perfect blend of rich melody and thoughtful, provoking lyrics, which like the “Dark Road” is an album I can listen to again and again.

But through it all, the haunting chords of “Nostalgia” keep calling to me…
(huge thanks to ColourfulCrocs for this tab)

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