As part of The Food Of Love Project, Yorkshire-based musician and multi-platform artist Rob St John and cellist Pete Harvey have contributed a luxuriant interpretation of ‘Farewell, Dear Love’, a song featured in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
The project itself is a compilation album featuring renditions and re-imaginings of various songs and poems that appeared or were referenced in the works of William Shakespeare. Curated and commissioned by Sebastian Reynolds of PinDrop Publicity and Tom McDonnell of TMD Media as part of the Oxford Shakespeare Jubilee 2016, the compilation features performances from various folk stalwarts such as Stornoway, Flights of Helios and Kirsty Law to name a few.
St John and Harvey’s rendering of ‘Farewell, My Love’ moves away from the more commonplace choral renditions it is given. Instead, they have crafted a lush, aggrieved piece that roots itself in old English folk tradition. St John’s vocals weave chillingly throughout while the arrangement bears similarity to the spacious ambience of his 2015 Surface Tension project, which Harvey also performed on. Harvey’s droning cello provides the fulcrum for the piece to build itself upon.
The Food Of Love Project will be released on the February 20 via Autolycus Records and Pindrop. It is dedicated to English folk musician John Renbourn who had intended on being involved with the project before he passed away in 2015.
