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 Typical subjects for her first two albums included
metamorphosis, mythical creatures and wicked stepmothers, but on
her new album "Coracle", out in June, she also draws on personal
experience in songs tackling pregnancy and motherhood, grief and
loss.
"I'd given birth and my step-mum passed away at a similar time,
and these two big things seemed to seep into the songs," she
says, speaking to Reuters by phone from Liverpool.
"It actually helped to be able to write about them, and I found
myself looking for stories that seemed to express some of the
things I was thinking about."
Motherhood is a rich seam in folk song and fairy tales, and
Portman addresses aspects such as waiting for the birth of her
own daughter on "Brink of June". But she has not entirely
abandoned her love for the darker folklore of the British Isles.
Album opener "Darkening Bell", inspired by a trip to a neolithic
burial chamber in Wales, is a sinister tale recalling myths of a
slumbering king under a hill.
The album, shaped by leading folk producer Andy Bell, features
Portman's regular collaborators Lucy Farrell and Rachel Newton.
But she's also joined by guest musicians such as Bellowhead's
Sam Sweeney on nyckelharpa and Hardanger fiddle.
Q. You spent your formative years in Glastonbury. How
much influence has that had on your songwriting?
A. It was an unusual upbringing in that in Glastonbury a
lot of things seemed normal, but when I moved to Newcastle I
realized they weren't, such as seeing druids on the High Street.
It isn't all barmy hippies but it was definitely a place where
my imagination could really grow.
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As a child I used to write stories, and later I was drawn to the
storytelling element in ballads. When I came back to folk tales and
fairy tales and started re-reading them, I started seeing links
between ballads and fairy tales.
Q. One of the tracks on "Coracle", "High Tide", is a
collaboration with Merseyside poet Eleanor Rees written for the
Irish Sea Sessions, part of Liverpool Irish Festival. How did that
come about?
A. I found Eleanor teaching a creative writing course and we
had really similar interests in playing with traditional forms. I
told her about the Irish Sea Sessions and because I was new to
Liverpool I didn't feel well placed to write about it, so I asked
her to write me a song. This is about a mermaid character who feels
most at home in the water at high tide.
Q. What else have you got planned for this year?
A. There's a new EP from The Furrow Collective (Portman, Newton and
Farrell with Alasdair Roberts). And I've been playing again with the
first band I was in, The Devil's Interval, a harmony trio with Jim
Causley and Lauren McCormick. We're playing Sidmouth (FolkWeek) this
summer and London's King's Place in December for an event with
Martin Carthy.
(Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Michael Roddy and Raissa
Kasolowsky)
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