Venerated singer-songwriter Charlie Dore has announced a new single and video ahead of her biggest UK tour for several years. Blowing Leaves is a delicately re-worked track from most recent album Like Animals and comes out on Friday 1 September. The release will be augmented with a promotional video by Tom Climpson on the same day – exactly a week before her countrywide Short Circuit Tour begins.

Erudite observations

Known for her erudite observations of human nature, exquisite sense of melody and impeccable story-telling, Dore’s new single (co-written with long time collaborator Julian Littman) was inspired by a singular autumnal event. This in turn developed into reverie amidst sincere remembrance and reflection on how nature constantly renews itself.

Regeneration

Charlie told ArtsCulture: “I recorded a leaf blower in next door’s garden and found it was in a comfortable key for me (Bb), so just for the fun of it I recorded the drone on my phone and sang a melody over the top. When it started up the birds disappeared, but after a very short while they returned and just carried on singing above the drone. Looking at the leaves and the birds I felt there was a kind of parallel with the regeneration aspect of both birds and leaves.

“I played the initial idea to Julian and when we started working on it we found it brought back memories of both our dads and how important the garden was to them, but in quite different ways.

“My father was very sociable and for him, half the pleasure of gardening was to show friends what he’d grown, share the veg, countless pots of jam or his Elderflower Champagne which regularly exploded in the larder. He was a keen winemaker and even made home-grown potato vodka which was lethal and probably a fire risk. He fought a one-man battle against bindweed and nettles until he was 80.

Memories

“Julian’s dad was also a keen gardener, but he and his garden were a little more organised than my dad and part of the attraction for him was that it provided a good excuse to escape unwanted drop-ins. Visitors knew better than to interrupt Fred when he was doing some urgent gardening, only to return when he was good and ready. Julian and I knew each other’s dads, so it was lovely to have those memories revived in the process of writing them into a song.”

Blowing Leaves is available via digital platforms on Friday 1 September via Black Ink/Proper Distribution. The promotional video is released on the same day via Charlie’s Youtube Channel. Listeners can pre-save the track via this link: https://blackinkmusic.lnk.to/BlowingLeavesRemix

top image: Charlie Dore. Courtesy of Jessie Morgan

The Short Circuit Tour starts on Friday 8 September and ends Thursday 12 October.

The Short Circuit Tour – Autumn 2023

Friday 8 September – The Courtyard, Hereford
Monday 11 September – The Temperance, Leamington Spa
Wednesday 20 September – Chequers Folk Club, Great Kingshill, Bucks
Thursday 21 September – Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon
Friday 22 September – Plough Arts Centre At St Annes Chapel, Barnstaple
Saturday 23 September – North Cornwall Book Festival, St Endellion
Wednesday 27 September – The Old Cinema Launderette, Durham
Thursday 28 September – John Peel Theatre, Wigton
Friday 29 September – Cafe #9, Sheffield
Saturday 30 September – Otley Courthouse
Sunday 1 October – Knutsfest, Knutsford
Thursday 5 October – The Corn Exchange, Hertford
Tuesday 10 October – The Sub Rooms, Stroud
Thursday 12 October – The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury

All tickets and details available at charliedore.com.