‘Sinking Boats’ is the second single to be taken from Sam Brookes’forthcoming album ‘Black Feathers’ (23 October, Go Slowly Records). Whilst the first single ‘Ekarma’ showcased the stirring melancholy and exquisitely hypnotic side of the forthcoming album, ‘Sinking Boats’ represents the more sonically vigorous end, where layered percussive mastery and a psych-folk-blues fusion recall John Martyn’s Solid Air. An array of guest musicians add to the song’s rich, full sound, including acclaimed fiddle player Sam Sweeney on nyckelharpa, with Brookes’ magnificent vocal, which has been likened to Jeff Buckley and Bon Iver, soaring above.

Sam Brookes describes his new album ‘Black Feathers’ as “a meditation on grief”. It explores loss experienced by Brookes in the 6 years since the release of his hugely acclaimed last album ‘Kairos’ (2014), loss he experienced either directly or empathetically. On ‘Sinking Boats’ it is the latter explored, with the song inspired by the fate of Syrian refugee Alan Kurdi. As Brookesexpands: “I was deeply affected by the image of the 3-year-old’s body washed up after drowning trying to cross the Mediterranean. I found myself wanting to do more but feeling powerless. Sometimes I feel like the world is full of sinking boats and this song imagines a society that cares enough to rescue the innocents aboard them.”

‘Sinking Boats’ was written by Sam Brookes, recorded at the Bert Jansch Studio in the Somerset countryside, produced and mixed by Dom Monks, and mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, Chiswick.

Sam Brookes’ new album ‘Black Feathers’ is out on 23 October on Go Slowly Records on CD, 12 inch vinyl and digitally.