Greetings from Windmill Hill.

*Shaun, John, James, and Paul*
Photo by Grace McCrindle

Every springtime on Windmill Hill, in Bristol, I hear the chatter and then see the gently bobbing flying formation of a charm of Goldfinches. Their cheering twitter heralds the arrival of spring – and hope – after the long, cold months of winter. I first began to notice them in our neighbourhood a few years back and when Shozzo decided we needed a better name for our modern folk ensemble Goldfinches felt like a natural fit.

Goldfinches is now my primary songwriting focus. The Shozzo trio recently became a quartet when we were joined by violinist Paul Meager. Paul doesn’t live on Windmill Hill but he doesn’t have far to travel for our rehearsals either. We are very much a south Bristol group.

These photographs were taken by Grace McCrindle, in a garden on the Hill, in winter. The goldfinches haven’t arrived yet but we are peering through the branches, looking forward to the return of spring. We also look forward to welcoming you to one of our gigs in the near future, as we prepare to launch our debut album, Shanti Time.

Bristol Boats (“baba ba ba ba”)

*An early watercolour painting of the Avon Gorge by JMW Turner (note the absence of a bridge across the gorge).*

It’s not often you see a boat in the Avon Gorge these days but in early November we saw two, a narrowboat and a sailing boat! Boats are a rare sight here because of the extreme tidal range of the River Avon (the second biggest in the world, apparently) as it flows in and out from the Bristol Channel twice a day.

I remember how strong the current appeared when I launched my tiny Journey of Song boat on the receding high tide beneath Clifton suspension bridge, back in the summer of 2020, how “the good ship” got swept away as soon as it touched the water during the filming of the trailer for this website. (Speeding up the video made the great surge of water even more apparent.)

Also pictured above is a cardboard model boat from the Bristol Harbour Festival in July and a beautifully constructed full-size wooden boat that was on display in an artist house as part of the 2024 Windmill Hill art trail, in south Bristol this autumn. Undoubtedly, this was another unexpected boat sighting! The artist(s), listed as Trygg in the art trail brochure, exhibited the boat alongside a floor installation featuring ceramic pots made from River Avon mud. Trygg is a Norweigan word which means ‘safe harbour’ or ‘be safe’ which is an apt sentiment for this boat-y post.

The top image is another ‘local artist’ discovery. In April, during a visit to Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, I learned that the celebrated Romantic painter Turner visited Bristol in the 1790s and made this watercolour painting of the Avon Gorge (entitled ‘The Avon Gorge and Bristol Hotwell’) at the tender age of 16. The iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge is conspicuously absent from Turner’s painting as it would not be constructed for another 70 years, during a famously industrious era of Victorian engineering.
Does Turner’s ship in full sail remind you of my Journey of Song ship?

Jay Auborn – artist-producer

As mixing starts on Goldfinches’ Shanti Time album, I thought you might like to learn about the person who will be overseeing the mix, composer and producer Jay Auborn.

I’ve collaborated with Jay on two projects, the ‘Peaceful’ album and the ‘Life Lines’ mini-album, both by Rock n Roll Angels. Each time, Jay demonstrated his commitment to capturing sound recordings in unusual acoustic spaces. ‘Peaceful’ was recorded mostly live in a church in south Bristol and ‘Life Lines’ was recorded live in the same space without any musicians being present at all! (instead their studio performances were broadcast through a suite of amplifiers into the church space, where Jay sculpted them into live mixes). Goldfinches look forward to hearing how Jay and his team at dBs Pro will recreate the acoustic vibe of Trobridge House where the Shanti Time sessions were recorded.

Here is a link to a dBs Institute online article from 2021 about Jay’s background and his role as the Creative Director of dBs Pro in Bristol. Needless to say, Jay’s been involved with many more projects since the article was published but nonetheless it’s a good introduction to his experiments in the world of sound recording.