‘The Wood Wide Web’ is a new album of eleven songs Ian Roland has written during the last two and a half years. He has arranged and produced the songs with violinist and gigging partner, Simon Yapp. This album project started in Spring 2020, following the release of the album ‘Double Rainbow’, subsequently published by production music company Indiesonics. The album has experienced various waves of the COVID pandemic and rollout of vaccines; three UK Conservative Prime Ministers; an ongoing cost-of-living crisis; an ongoing war in Europe; and the climate crisis deepening as governments around the world fail to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Conceived and developed against this backdrop, the album highlights the power of nature to rejuvenate, sustain, and enrich all life, including our own, if only we gave it the chance to do so.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Ian Roland. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
There is always something to learn about music, song writing and performance. I enjoy that learning process and dedicate a lot of time to practising and trying to get better. I enjoy the process and that is a strength.
Who inspired you to make music?
From a very (very) early age I was listening to The Beatles a lot as my older sisters were big fans. A few years later I would listen a lot to The Kinks and Cat Stevens, again by way of introduction by my sisters. By the time I heard The Waterboys and got awestruck by “Don’t Bang The Drum” and other fabulous Mike Scott tracks, I was deep in to playing mandolin, guitar and singing in bands with school and college friends.
Your latest release is 'The Wood Wide Web'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
‘The Wood Wide Web’ describes the social network of roots and fungi that connect plants and trees together and allows them to communicate with each other. I named my new album after this phenomenon. The album consists of eleven songs I wrote during the last two and a bit years. I have arranged and produced the songs with violinist and gigging partner, Simon Yapp. This album project started in Spring 2020, following the release of my album, ‘Double Rainbow’, published by production music company, Indiesonics.
‘The Wood Wide Web’ album has experienced various waves of the Covid pandemic and rollout of vaccines; three UK Conservative Prime Ministers; an ongoing cost-of-living crisis; an ongoing War in Europe; the climate crisis deepening as governments around the world fail to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Conceived and developed against this backdrop, the album highlights the power of Nature to rejuvenate, sustain and enrich all life, including our own, if only we gave it the chance to do so.
Joining Simon and I on the ‘The Wood Wide Web’ are musicians from previous albums and EPs, namely Brione Jackson (cello, vocals), Nick Van Vlaenderen (drums) and Jade Woodhouse (cello) together with new recruits, Sarah Davison (cello), and Sarah Louise Harris and Charlotte Griggs who add their vocals to the choir of Simon’s, Brione’s, and my own voices.
Can you shortly describe each of the tracks that are on the album?
Track 1. Not Alone
Outcast and in search of a home, human migration will continue to increase and affect us all as our planet heats up and access to Earth’s resources diminishes.
Track 2. Giant!
Giant corporate entities, like oil companies, over-shadow our lives and govern our actions, placing a crippling limitation upon how our lives can be lived.
Track 3. Gold In The Dust
A song written as if from the perspective of a tree; essential to the continued existence of life and so, more precious than gold.
Track 4. Nothing Could Grow There
The song was written during the first COVID 19 pandemic lockdown in the UK in June 2020 and reflects the fear, isolation and concerns for survival felt across the world during that time and still ongoing today. The root causes of the pandemic form the basis of the song: the destruction of the natural world; biodiversity loss; the exponential rise in consumption over recent decades; the fallout from the pandemic in terms of economic hardship, loneliness, and separation. It is a cry echoing the cries of all of us and a plea for transformative change to rethink our relationship with nature and each other. It is a plea for the need to move away quickly from the greed of capitalism that has brought us to this cliff edge.
Track 5. In It For The Ride
Trying to get through difficult times and feeling scared, lost and alone.
Track 6. Wilder Things
“Our hearts’ refuge of hope remains, Wilder things this Earth reclaim.” A song celebrating the positives of re-wilding.
Track 7. Can’t Lose Anymore
Written after visiting the Eden Project in Cornwall in England and learning how trees and plants communicate via a mycorrhizal fungal network of interconnections. A recommended read on this topic is Merlin Sheldrake’s ‘Entangled Life’.
Track 8. New Life
“For all we know, For something better, Push the fear, Push the fear away.” Our survival depends on our ability to stop damaging our natural environment and to live in balance with it instead.
Track 9. Wildflowers
During the first lockdown, due to the COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, my children and I decided to plant an area of wildflowers in our garden. Science was linking the pandemic with the years of exploitation and destruction of the natural world* and to try to combat our sense of the overwhelming helplessness of this situation we planted wildflowers and over the coming months watched the bees and butterflies visit.
* “The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, caused by zoonotic SARS-CoV-2, has important links to biodiversity loss and ecosystem health” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00258-8/fulltext#seccestitle230
Track 10. Beyond Words
The indescribable beauty of the natural world is the theme for this love song. In the words of David Attenborough, “We have one final chance to create the perfect home for ourselves and restore the wonderful world we inherited…All we need is the will to do so.” (‘A Life on Our Planet’, David Attenborough, 2020).
Track 11. This Movie
Resist the life stories pre-written for us by the powers that be. Those powers say “it’s always been that way” but it has not, and it does not have to be.
How do you stay up-to-date with the latest musical trends?
I play a lot of open mics and acoustic sessions and hear a lot of new and original music.
What makes you different from others?
I have two Guild 12 string guitars, which I love playing. I like experimenting with different tunings and finger-picked patterns, and creating original songs. I have been told the guitars sound like guitars with bells or harpsichords playing at the same time and that the effect sounds like more than one instrument, which is great to know as that is my aim.
What’s an average day like for you?
I try to fit as much guitar playing around my day job as I can during the day. Most evenings I am playing a gig somewhere or performing a slot at a pub open mic or floor spot at a folk club session.
Please discuss how you interact with and respond to fans.
I try to play live as much as I can and I broadcast my mailing list at gigs, which people can sign up to for latest updates and news. The mailing list is also available here https://ianroland.com/contact-links
I am also on Spotify, Apple Music etc and Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bandcamp, Reverbnation.
What advice would you have for someone wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Practice every day and don’t give up.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan to continue writing and recording songs, and gigging out as much as possible, as it makes me happy and is a very important part of my life.