Programme - Deepdale Festival

Emily Mae Winters

Saturday

'These new songs deal with a wide range of subjects which will all in some way examine the meaning throughout history of what the concept of ‘Romance’ has truly meant. For some writers and artists, it has meant what a lot of us today recognise as roses, candlelit dinners and the stereotypical Valentine’s Day love. For others it has meant escapism, hope, loyalty, idealism, optimism and a searching for a utopia.

Therefore, on this album you will not necessarily find a host of standard love songs. You will hear songs which deal with sunshine and darkness, the movement of people, the struggles of modern technology, growing up, following your dreams, travelling/being on the road and yes of course; 'love’ in all it’s different forms.

When I was living in London in my early twenties, alongside writing songs and having many odd jobs, I worked at Keats House Museum. I also performed as a Shakespearean actress. Shakespeare certainly had some beautiful things to say about love/ romance and so did my favourite romantic poet John Keats.

In one of my favourite poems by Keats: 'When I Have Fears’, he looks up at the night sky as his dying day approaches and sees 'Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance’. He worries that he and his pen will not live long enough to trace them all. It was this line that inspired the album title and concept.

I’ve always been a 'hopeless romantic’ but I think the older I get, the more the meaning of that phrase changes for me.'

— Emily Mae Winters