Stornoway have announced their new album Beyonder, set for release on 25th September.
The UK alt-folk group have long drawn on a sense of place, their name itself pointing towards the edges of the British Isles. With Beyonder, that instinct is taken further, shaped by frontman Brian Briggs’ experience on the remote archipelago of St Kilda.
The Stornoway Beyonder album is rooted in that environment, with its artwork featuring a photograph taken on the island. Located at the most westerly edge of the British Isles, St Kilda has been uninhabited since the 1930s, when its remaining residents requested evacuation to the mainland.
For Briggs, the trip proved formative. “Lying in bed in a stone blackhouse in St Kilda, being deafened by a gale battering the island, made me realise how utterly insignificant I am,” he explains. “At the same time, I discovered a deeper connection to the planet than I’ve found anywhere else, a connection which gives me a sense of meaning, and a determination to take whatever small steps I can to protect it.”
That sense of scale, both humbling and expansive, feeds directly into the songwriting. “Music is the greatest power I have,” he continues. “These songs are about bringing people back together with each other and the natural world.”
Self-produced and mixed by multi-Grammy winner Oli Jacobs, the album arrives alongside new single ‘Marco Polo’. The track reflects on exploration, drawing a line between physical journeys and inner emotional movement. Briggs points to childhood fascination with explorers such as Jacques Cousteau and Thor Heyerdahl, while suggesting that connection with the natural world no longer requires danger, only attention.
Stornoway are set to play a sold-out show at Royal Albert Hall on 30th March, with Beyonder marking their next chapter.
Beyonder is released on 25th September.
Photo Credit: John Bullock
