Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening at The Stables, Milton Keynes

Named after the old Northumbrian word for twilight, The Darkening is made up of four North-East England-based members: Kathryn Tickell (Northumbrian smallpipes, fiddle, vocals), Amy Thatcher (accordion, synth, clogs, vocals), Heather Cartwright (vocals, guitar), Joe Truswell (drums, percussion); with Stef Conner from Cambridge (vocals, lyres). Together these dazzling musicians create musical magic; dynamic and unique “Ancient Northumbrian Futurism”.
Based in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall yet reaching out to the wider world, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening explore the connecting threads of music, landscape and people over a period of almost 2000 years. Songs range from themes of freedom, nature and venturing out into the world after times of darkness, to a Roman inscription with links to Libya and Syria magnetically pulled into the 21st century with glorious vocal harmonies and the wildest of piping.
Praise for the latest album Cloud Horizons:
“...wildly thrilling” The Guardian
“…unexpectedly cosmic” MOJO