We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    The new album on white vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Dark Murmuration of Words via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £22 GBP or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Pressed on 140g classic black vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Dark Murmuration of Words via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £22 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    This hardbound book package has 24 pages including lyrics, credits and my notes on each song.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Dark Murmuration of Words via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £12 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in gatefold card sleeve with 12-page lyric booklet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Dark Murmuration of Words via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £1 GBP  or more

     

  • Original artwork
    Poster/Print + Digital Album

    I made a promotional video for the album where I wrote every word used in the lyrics on a single piece of art paper, creating a "murmuration of words". This is the resulting artwork. There's only one!

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Dark Murmuration of Words via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Test pressing
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition white label test pressing of the vinyl album in white card sleeve, signed.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Dark Murmuration of Words via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

about

The meaning of "home" is a recurring theme in my songwriting. I found myself writing about it again in the midst of what felt like a watershed moment last year when the world's media turned its attention to the climate crisis.

I started, once again, to ask myself if it is time at last to return to my first home – by the Blackwood River where I grew up and where my family still live. It's a question that seems to have no answer, despite the number of songs I have dedicated to it.

This year everyone's life has taken another, unexpected existential turn – I've talked to friends who have found themselves asking similar questions and perhaps struggling to put a finger on where that safe place is that they would return to if they could.

For me, it's not just a physical place, it's also a moment in time – ‘home’ is my childhood: naïve and splashing in the river after school on hot, summer afternoons where crickets clicked a casual tempo and life felt immortal. I feel incredibly fortunate to have those memories, like a luxurious soft blanket I can wrap myself in when the worries mount up.

I hope you are safe and well, and that this song can give you pause for thought and help connect you with your own safe place, wherever that may be.

lyrics

RETURN ME
(words: Emily Barker; music: Emily Barker and Ted Barnes)

Return me to where my eyes first glimpsed
Sun-kissed folds of your Blackwood lips
I’ve been gone so long
Time is moving on

Come with me to another land
Our skin can thin together hand in hand
I’ve been gone so long
Tell me will you come?

The hues of your summer haunt my way
I feel the path we’ve known begin to stray

Chosen journey many selves ago
Turned to me with a mind of its own
Am I following?
Knowing where I’ve been?

I’ve loved this movement every coast to coast
Fell for others but I love you most
I’ve been gone so long
Tell me will you come?

The hues of your summer haunt my way
I feel the path we’ve known begin to stray

So come with me to another shore
We can learn a new way to mourn
Are you following?
Knowing where you’ve been?

credits

from A Dark Murmuration of Words, released September 4, 2020

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Emily Barker UK

Emily Barker is the award-winning songwriter and performer of the theme to BBC TV’s Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh. Her music is an indie blend of influences from alt-country to folk via 60s pop, with comparisons ranging from PJ Harvey to Joni Mitchell. ... more

contact / help

Contact Emily Barker

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Emily Barker recommends:

If you like Emily Barker, you may also like: