Track By Tracks: Theigns & Thralls - The Keep & The Spire (2024)

The album as a whole

’The Keep & The Spire’ is the second album from Theigns & Thralls but it is the first album to be recorded as a band - though there are a few guest musicians on it. The title is taken from the song ’Theigns & Thralls’ and refers to the keep and the spire being considered as the twin towers of control (i.e. the state and religion).

I started writing new material for this album as soon as the first album was released and had a few tracks together when I was contacted by Per Ablinsson (the Swedish lyricist) about the possibility of working together. This was something different for me because, while I have worked with lots of different musicians, I normally write the lyrics. But I thought it was an interesting idea and I decided to give it a go. This changed the shape and feel of the album, in that (after some discussion) Per quickly, came up with some lyrics that had strong Anglo-Saxon or Viking themes. I then had the idea of combining some of these lyrics to form a ‘suite of tracks’ (something I have never done before), so that these songs would take up the whole side of an album. These songs became ‘The Maldon Suite’, and the album could be viewed as ‘The Maldon Suite’ and other songs.

A lot of the other songs are based on poems and ideas I had had for a while, like ‘The Harrowing’ and ‘Interrogativa Cantilena’ (which I did with Korpiklaani). And, as we didn’t want to make the whole album dark and serious, we added a few more up-tempo and fun tracks like ‘the Seeker’, ‘The Mermaid Tavern’, and ‘The Grape And The Grain’.

Track by track:

1. Overture:

This is like a fanfare to start the album off, and it contains the ‘theme’ that ties the Maldon Suite together. We were fortunate enough to get the Prins Hendrik Brass Band to help us with this track. John (Ryan) did a great job tracking the string parts.

2. A Single Beam:

This was the second lyric that Per sent to me. He explained it as a conversation between a warrior, who is about to go to war, and his wife or lover. I was immediately struck by how this lyric could fit with the ‘The Battle Of Maldon’ story and saw how we could extend these ideas to become part of a ‘suite’ of songs. Moreover, the idea of a conversation, allowed for some female vocals, a sort of duet, and something I hadn’t really done before. Arjon (Valk) said he had someone in mind who could do the female part and we were lucky to get Irma (van Pamelen) to do the recording.

3. Fight And Lay Your Bones:

This short song takes the main theme into a different time signature and introduces the chorus of the next song, but in a subdued manner, as the warriors get ready for battle.

4. The Battle of Maldon:

This was the first lyric that Per (Ablinsson) sent me. We had discussed the historical aspect of Theigns & Thralls, and Per asked if I was aware of a 10th-century poem about The Battle Of Maldon. He thought it would make a good subject for a song. I told him I didn’t know about it (me being more concerned with Northumbria than Anglia) but I would be keen to read it. So, he sent me a huge lyric, with fifteen verses. At first, I wasn’t sure how I could fit them into a song. Per replied, ‘sing it quickly’. So I did and I came up with an arrangement that worked but which also made me think about extending some of the musical ideas.

5. Aftermath:

A musical interlude here, as the theme is played slowly in the aftermath of the battle and the breeze blows across the fallen. The musical themes all come together with some lovely strings and whistles from John and Dave.

6. Pagan Song:

This song is based on another lyric Per sent me. He told me that, in 597AD, St. Augustine was sent to Kent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the pagans. But this song considers how an old pagan warrior might have reacted to the coming of Christianity. Although these events happened before The Battle Of Maldon, I think that it has a similar Anglo-Saxon mood to it, and I wanted to keep these songs together to form a side of vinyl. I still consider this a good listening format.

7. The Harrowing:

Historically, ‘The Harrowing’ takes place at the end of the Viking era, when, in the winter of 1069, William 1 (‘The Conqueror’ or ‘The Bastard’) ruthlessly put down a rebellion in the North of England. Slaughtering the population and despoiling the land. Coming from Northumberland, I am all too aware of the North-South divide that still exists, although recent Tory attempts at ‘leveling-up’.

8. The Seeker:

I come from Northumberland – a ‘County Of Castles’ - in the northeast of England. One of my favorite castles there is Dunstanburgh Castle. This iconic castle sits on the rugged northeast coastline, lashed by the cold, grey North Sea. Well, I was very happy to come across a local folktale involving the castle, called ’Sir Guy, The Seeker’. I was even happier to find that the legend had been turned into an epic poem by M. G. Lewis (a popular poet back in the day) in 1809. However, because the poem is very long, I had to do some serious editing so that you would get the gist of the story – involving a lost knight, an evil sorcerer, and a damsel in distress. Theigns & Thralls started playing the song live in 2023 and it was rollicking fun, so we thought we would release it to coincide with our appearance at this year’s Warhorns Late Winter Festival.

9. Now My Life Is Done:

This song had a good deal of serendipity about it. The initial inspiration for it came from my daughter practicing a violin piece. She was learning to play a ‘gavotte’ (French dance) by J.B. Lulley (from around 1686), and she was playing it very slowly. Which gave it a very melancholy feel. The main theme of it stuck in my head, so I borrowed a few bars, changed the key, and adapted it for the guitar. At about the same time, I came across a poem called ‘Elegy’ by Chidiock Tichborne (1586). This poem was written by him while he was in prison awaiting execution. By chance the words fit the mood of the music perfectly and, again after a little arranging, I had the song. But further still, around that time (on a trip to record in Ireland) I discovered that John (Ryan) knew Alan Averill (the singer from Primordial). And I thought Alan would be perfect as a guest vocalist for this track. Luckily, Alan agreed to do it and he really added a lot to the overall feel of the track. I think of this song as a successor to ‘Strive’ from the first album and, again, so I asked Illona and Dagda to add hurdy gurdy and bagpipes to it.

10. The Grape And The Grain

This song was born after a night out drinking with my friends in the band Celtibeerian. They had asked me to work on a song with them called Old No7 (about Jack Daniels of course). After it was recorded, we got together to practice it for a live performance. After the rehearsal we had a few beers together and, of course, someone had to get some Jack Daniels to celebrate. Now, I don’t drink whiskey and the next day I had a horrible hangover. This reminded me of a saying my mum used to say to me that you shouldn’t mix the grape with the grain. When I recovered, I thought what a great idea for a song.

11. Interrogativa Cantilena:

I have known the guys in Korpiklaani for many years and Jonne collaborated with us on the first album, and we keep in contact. In 2022 I was contacted by them about recording an English version of one of their songs from the album ’Jylhä’, The song we eventually chose was ‘Pidot’, partly because of the feel the track but mostly because I had come across an anonymous poem called ‘Interrogativa Cantilena’ and I thought that it would make for a great, fun song. Luckily enough, after a bit of arranging, the words fit the song perfectly and that version did very well. So much so in fact that we decided to record a Theigns & Thralls version of it for this album. Our version has a different arrangement, and it is a little more up-tempo.

12. The Mermaid Tavern:

I came across the story of ‘The Mermaid Tavern’ a few years ago and thought it would make for a great song. This was an (in)famous watering hole in Cheapside, London and in the 16th century, it was the haunt of the so-called "Fraternity of Sireniacal Gentlemen", a drinking club that included some of the Elizabethan era's leading literary figures, such as Ben Jonson and John Donne. It is said that Shakespeare himself drank there – but this is disputed. Evidently, John Keats (the romance poet) was also taken with this story as he penned some ‘Lines On The Mermaid Tavern’ (in 1818). When we decided that we needed a couple of ‘drinking songs’ for the album, I finally got the chance to make Keats’ poem into a song I was happy with.