Daphne's Flight


Daphne's Flight is a collaboration between five highly regarded female vocalists, instrumentalists, and songwriters in the British folk and root music scene: Christine Collister, Melanie Harrold, Julie Matthews, Helen Watson and Chris While. The collaboration resulted in a well-reviewed album and a sell-out tour during the mid-1990s. The project helped to cement relationships between the members, raised their individual profiles nationally and internationally and has been seen as marking a turning point in the role of women within the English folk movement. Twenty years after the initial collaboration, Daphne's Flight returned with a new studio album and a live release, and toured extensively.

History

The group made their début at the 1995 Cambridge Folk Festival, where they were one of the hits of the event. This was followed by a major concert at London's prestigious Union Chapel in December. In January 1996 they recorded their eponymous album in ten days, fitted between busy schedules, in The Big Room, Kirk Michael, the Isle of Man. The studio had to be completed by builders working through the night. The result was very positively reviewed in the folk and roots music press and gained considerable mainstream press and media attention. The group followed the release with a popular major 18-date tour of England through May and June 1996.
The project proved a one-off for some time as the members pursued their own careers, but in subsequent years they appeared on and contributed to each other’s albums and live appearances. Partial reunions occurred for specific gigs, and in 2003 at the Prebendal Festival they reassembled for a reunion.
As the 20th anniversary of the initial collaboration approached, members of the group began talking of a full-fledged reunion project, which was eventually realized with the release of the critically acclaimed album Knows Time, Knows Change in 2017. The entire 2017 tour was recorded on digital multi-track, from which a third album, Daphne's Flight Live, was assembled and released in 2018. The group continued touring during 2019 and into 2020.

Members and Contributions

Daphne's Flight
  1. "Over and Over"
  2. "Ain't No Sunshine"
  3. "Another Year Another Day"
  4. "The Calling"
  5. "Gone"
  6. "The Letter"
  7. "Father Adieu"
  8. "Guilty"
  9. "Shake Out Your Silver"
  10. "Circle Round The Sun"
  11. "Rise Above The Tide Of Life"
Knows Time, Knows Change
  1. "Lay Fallow"
  2. "How Glad I Am"
  3. "Goddess Of Man"
  4. "Ship Building"
  5. "Count Me In"
  6. "Let My Ship Come Sail In"
  7. "Heart Of Stone"
  8. "No One Knows His Name"
  9. "My Heart 2"
  10. "Split"
Daphne's Flight Live
  1. Tree Of Life
  2. How Glad I Am
  3. No One Knows His Name
  4. Shipbuilding
  5. Split
  6. Over And Over
  7. Another Year Another Day
  8. Gone
  9. The Calling
  10. Guilty
  11. From The Heart
  12. Heart Of Stone
  13. Out Of Left Field
  14. Goddess Of Man
  15. Pride
  16. Father Adieu