ALBUMS // Poppy Ackroyd – Feathers

Post by Misha

I guess in the traditional sense Poppy Ackroyd’s 2015 contemporary classical album, Feathers, wouldn’t be considered holiday music. But I’ve never really taken to traditional holiday music, at least in the major key sense in which most music participates in the holidays. Carol of the Bells and Walking In The Air from the magnificent animated short The Snowman were my childhood favorites. Last year I listened to a lot of Sufjan Stevens’ “That Was The Worst Christmas Ever!” and the muted melancholy of Nils Frahm. I suppose if I had to distill it, my criteria for December listening is the ability of a song to evoke snow falling in the dead of night.

Which is why I choose this album for my holidays this year. In Feathers, Ackroyd puts you in the sky, in the dark, to fall amidst the flakes. It’s chilly and whirling and peaceful; to come face to face with the intricate, fragile, beauty of the crystalline; to look up and feel as though it is down; to be caught in a swirling wind and to become part of it.

Poppy Ackroyd is a young composer from London. She’s classically trained in piano and violin, and her tender, expressive songs are tracked using only those two instruments. Buy her music on Bandcamp here.