Magic occurs when people set aside preconceived notions and open their hearts and minds to a world that operates in ways we can’t understand. Throughout her career Mary Chapin Carpenter has been a solo artist. Yet during the pandemic she longed to collaborate. But not with just anyone. She wanted to work with Scottish singer-songwriter Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart. Upon learning of the potential collaboration in a phone conversation with Fowlis, Polwart sobbed tears of joy. The magic was just beginning as thetrio took small steps on the road to Looking for the Thread.
Following a January 2023 event in Glasgow, the three headed to Kinlochmoidart House in the Scottish Highlands. After a similar session a year later with producer Josh Kaufman, the three headed into Real World Studios for a week where the alchemy continued. If one needed any more evidence just listen to ‘Gradh Geal Mo Chridhe’, a track recorded on the spur of the moment because Fowlis couldn’t attend the funeral of Fergie MacDonald, the accordion ‘Ceilidh King’ who had just died. Neither Polwart or Carpenter spoke Gaelic, but with phonetic interpretations by Fowlis, this song never intended for the album and captured in just an hour, ended up leading off Looking for the Thread.
At first glance these 10 songs seem to be as disparate as any imaginable. Carpenter’s ‘Satellite’ is a tale of a decommissioned NASA spaceship drifting endlessly. Polwart’s ‘Rebecca’ tells of a century-old beech tree unbowed by a recent attempt to cut it down. ‘Silver In The Blue’ is Fowlis’ take on the mysterious journey of wild Atlantic Salmon, endangered but spawning. Yet these songs are somehow bound together by these unexpected themes. Polwart notes, “There is such a degree of geekiness about those three songs that brings me genuine delight!” She continues, “Although the songs were, on the face of it, quite different, they felt like they could easily sit together.”
While it may be impossible to manage the magic, Josh Kaufman seems to continually find contexts that create sparks of possibility. From the gentle guitar opening of ‘Hold Everything’, the song breathes and expands with a drum pattern that should seem out of place, yet never is. Tones and textures take the song into realms unimaginable. His ears find ways to merge creative tissue in the most unexpected ways. The piano opening ‘Looking for the Thread’ offers a slightly sad feel that gets redoubled by the a penny whistle before the song bursts forth, then gets pulled back.
Few records examine the depths of feeling the way Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart do on Looking for the Thread. Their songs live and breathe, exploring the world in the most remarkable ways. This is a most auspicious beginning to the year and to these three ladies who have a most remarkable connection.