Natalie Wildgoose - Rural Hours Natalie Wildgoose

Taking a year to make, amidst long stretches of solitude, Rural Hours nevertheless sees Natalie return to the quiet richness of a folk ensemble. Never content to simply shack up in a recording studio however - with backing from the PRS for Women fund - she brought musicians Chris Brain (with whom she collaborates regularly) and Owen Spafford to a bothy high up in an isolated part of the Yorkshire Dales, two hours walk from the nearest village and without heating or electricity. Playing by candlelight, songs inspired by life and loss in North Yorkshire, by Emily Dickinson’s letters, or the Sibylline oracle of Ancient Greece play against the crackle of the fire and the wild winds blowing outside.

It’s an approach typical of Natalie’s artistic method. Spending her time scouring for pianos in remote corners of the Yorkshire Dales, she finds them in Victorian mills, grade II listed village halls, isolated chapels and A letting the spaces themselves shape the music. Recording music of her music to tape, it carries the rarefied qualities of an unearthed archive recording, seeking to slow down the frantic pace of modern life; uncovering the past, and reconnecting with the environments of the places and communities that hold her.

“The slender piano line underpins a half-whispered incantation, with Natalie’s gentleness becoming her superpower. ” CLASH

“Utterly stunning” Emily Pilbeam (BBC Introducing’s ‘best of 2025’)

“It’s really something special” Guy Garvey (BBC Radio 6Music)

“simply gorgeous. I hear a bit of Julia Jacklin and Adrianne Lenker.” Stereogum