Birch Book - 2026 Casting Lines: A Museum of Memory (Vol.IV)

 Lune Musick, Digital File, releases February 13, 2026

Quality: FLAC (tracks)

01 A Room with a View

02 Secret Garden

03 Only Waiting for Me 

04 Old Dirt Road

05 Birch Blossoms I 

06 A Beautiful Day 

07 These Fragile Things 

08 Games to Play

09 Pale Shadow Waltz 

10 Birch Blossoms II

Sixteen(!) years after Vol. III - A Hand Full of Days, B’ee returns with the long-awaited next chapter - Vol. IV: Casting Lines - A Museum of Memory.

We all know B’erth as one of the most remarkable and unique songwriters of our time. His psychedelic symbolist folk music has shone through his projects In Gowan Ring and Birch Book since the early ’90s. A new album from him is always a rare and important event.

B’ee says in his own words: "In Defense of Nostalgic Recollection"

After nearly a decade in gestation, I’m so very relieved to present Volume IV in the Birch Book series of albums: Casting Lines. As alluded to in the subtitle - A Museum of Memory - many of the songs explore the contents, mode and study of personal retrospection: an apparently endless trove of fascinations indulged upon toward a range of signification.

The surreal displaced aesthetic sense experienced when inhabiting a focused memory world - set in stark contrast to the here and now - I find to be among the preeminent peculiar pleasures offered by a capacity for self-reflection. That these discursions may bestow pragmatic epiphanies relevant to worldly navigation, or a salutary temperance upon terrestrial actualities, are but ancillary blessings.

Are we but phantom ships on phantom oceans? May we there settle tragedies never reconciled - reconcile sorrows never settled? To fully engage with this mystery of memory is to probe reality itself: an ontological quest beyond narcissistic self-absorption, toward-paradoxically-a more visceral experience of present circumstance.

Casting Lines has been lovingly adorned with a collection of enlarged perspectives from the illustration A Museum of Memory by Maria Gordon, which was specially designed with themes from the songs herein. As with previous editions of Birch Book, Volume IV accommodates many compositions tending towards the mildly autobiographical." 

Very nice album, it was worth the wait!!!

Thistletown - 2008 Rosemarie

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)

CD Big Bertha Records Bigbert003, 2008, UK 

01 Rosemarie
02 Glow Worm
03 Under the Trees
04 Dance with the Sea
05 Labyrinth
06 Oak and Ash
07 Moon is a Pearl
08 The Sun is Coming Up

Andrew Jarvia: accordion, bass, drums, glockenspiel, harmonium, melodica, percussion, trumpet
Ben Tweddell: acoustic guitar
Benet Walsh: mandolin, violin, bass, clarinet, guitar
Michael Tyack: saz, lute, electric guitar, cittern, chanting (03)
Matthew Bennett: percussion
Tiffany Bryant: vocals, flute, hand percussion
Lydia Tweddell: vocals, hand percussion
Al Davies: bass (05)

Debut album by Thistletown, a Cornish five-piece who live on a boat, grow their own vegetables, and make some of the most elegantly romantic music you have ever heard. The band formed a little over a year ago after Tiffany and Lydia bonded over a shared love of nature, 70s maxi dresses and folk-rock acts like Pentangle, Heron and the Trees. Lydia's boyfriend Ben had been busy developing a unique acoustic guitar style while Tiffany's multi-instrumentalist boyfriend Jarvis had been playing accordion, trumpet and glockenspiel in folk clubs along the Cornish coast.

...

Excellent vibe, reminiscent of 70's folk bands like Spriguns, C.O.B, Forest etc. Musically, its all acoustic, with some nice trumpet that reminds me of Marc Brierlys 'Welcome to the Citadel'. Twin Female vocals in the same vein as 'Trees' etc....a strong rural, esoteric atmosphere.

Highly Recommended...

In Gowan Ring - Sial at Play / The Serpent and the Dove (single) - 2015

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)

01 Sial at Play (Alternate / Single Version)
02 The Serpent and the Dove (Non Album Track)

Emma Skemp: baroque flute
Geoge Boerner: viola
Maya Fridman: cello
B'ee: voice, guitar, bowed bells
Joel Munther: viola bass

released November 21, 2015

NOTE:
'Sial at Play' is from the poem of the same title by Shaun Johnson, published in Mandragora by Scarlet Imprint.

SUPERB & RARE SINGLE

In Gowan Ring - The Serpent And The Dove - 2015

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)
2015, Les Disques du 7eme Ciel, 7C12D, France

01 The Serpent
02 Thousands Of Bees
03 Sial At Play
04 Julia Willow
05 Set A Candle In The Night
06 Field Of Dream
07 A Song, A Story And A Stone
08 The Dove

B'ee:
Voice, Spanish Guitar, Piano, Organ, Guitar, Dulcimer, Oboe, Bowed Bells, Drum, Choir,
Jaw Harp, Percussion, Bells, Animism & Elementals, Electric Guitar, Bowls, Specters

Track 02:
Oneiric Observation – Iida OjanperäViola, Georg Börner
Track 03:
Baroque Flute, Voice – Emma Skemp
Track 06:
Nyckelharpa – Georg Börner

All I want to said is too little about this magnificent Album, one of the best of all time.

Recommended straight from the heart.

Sharron Kraus - Beautiful Twisted - 2002

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)

2002, Camera Obscura CAM 050CD, Australia

01 The Peacock's Wing
02 The River's Daughter
03 Moonbathing
04 The Family Tradition
05 Twins
06 Cold-Hearted Devil
07 Death Jig
08 The Wrong Man
09 Godstow
10 Beautiful Twisted
11 Song Of The Unfree

Sharron Kraus: vocals, guitar, 5-string banjo, whistle, percussion, keyboards
Ron Guensche: upright bass, electric bass, lap steel guitar, mandolin, 5-string banjo on 11
Amy Clay: fiddle on 1, 7, 10
Tracy Farbstein: fiddle on 2, 4, 5
Dean Welch: guitar, backing vocals
Marty Dowers: bass clarinet
Paul Conte: drums

First solo album. All songs writen by Sharron Kraus

Kraus' debut album would not have sounded at all out of place if it had been issued, say, in 1970 or 1971, at the time when such moody contemporary British folk was cresting. That's not at all to say that it's revivalist, or uncomfortably imitative; indeed, to listeners who love that vintage genre, it's more likely a high recommendation. In its ambience, the album strongly recalls the work of Shirley Collins, Sandy Denny, and more obscure songstresses like Vashti Bunyan. She's a decent songwriter, and very much fits in the British folk lineage with her sad yet dignified melodies and lyrics with plenty of images evoking nature, epic love, and mythological aspects. There are (for this style) out-of-the-ordinary up-front depictions of incest (in "Twins") and references to modern life (in the shiny car and taxi driver of the title track), though these aren't too typical of the compositions. There isn't enough rock to the backing to call this a folk-rock record, but it's definitely far more contemporary than standard British folk, both in attitude and also in the pleasant variation of instrumental accompaniment, as in the ominously echoing keyboard of "Beautiful Twisted" and the bass clarinet squeals of "Song of the Unfree."

SUPERB ALBUM

Pamela Wyn Shannon - Courting Autumn - 2007

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)
Label: 2007, Girlhenge Records LEAFWYN002, private,
          no.500 hand-crafted in New England
          2007, Girlhenge Records LEAFWYN002, 2nd edition,
          Made in America

01 O Bittersweet Dear Madeline
02 Tis Rambletide In Ambleside
03 Courting Autumn
04 Woolgathering
05 Ca' The Yowes
06 September's Way
07 Pipkin
08 Michaelmastide
09 Netherworld
10 Vespertine Autumn
11 Cold Blows The Wind
12 Fare-Thee-Forlorn

Pamela Wyn Shannon: guitar, vocals, mountain dulcimer, banjo. glockenspiel, harmonium, bowed psaltery, string Arrangement
Bill Shontz: recorders & recorder arrangement
Liz Knowles: violin, viola, cello, cello reversed, string Arrangement
Michelle Kinney: cello
Kathlean Lawrence: spinning wheel
Chris Hale: sitar, backing vocals
Stephan Katz: cello
Ethan Hazzard-Watkins: violin
Anna Patton: clarinet & penny whistle

All lyrics & music written by Pamela Wyn Shannon except Ca' The Yowes & Cold Blows The Wind (traditional, arranged by Pamela Wyn Shannon)

ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ALBUM OF A GENRE

Kirsty Mcgee - Frost - 2004

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)
Label:  Park Records, PRK CD69, UK

01 Plane Vapours
02 Spit & Shine
03 The Prisoner
04 Coffee Coloured Strings
05 Spider Lallaby
06 Cloudwatching
07 Put Back The Stars
08 Safe Harbour Song
09 Sophie
10 Summer Frost
11 Kisses
12 Bitter Aloe
13 St Mark's Place

Credits:
Kirsty McGee: vocals, guitar, flute
Jonny Bridgwood: double bass
Roy Dodds: drums
Boo Hewerdine: guitar
Neill MacColl: guitar, guitar (high-strung guitar), zither (Marxophone)
Mat Martin: guitar, mandolin
John Spiers: melodeon, bandoneon

Chris Sands: photography, artwork

Recorded at Warehouse Studios, Kennington, October / November 2003

Notes:
All of the songs are originals.

One of the exceptional albums for listening through many years! 

In Gowan Ring - Birch Book - Taking Wing / Jacob Fleet (single) - 2014

Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Vinyl 7” Single, Les Disques du 7eme Ciel 7C8, France

01 Taking Wing (as In Gowan Ring) Mark Fry/The A. Lords cover
02 Jacob Fleet (as Birch Book) And Also The Trees cover

Credits:
Voice, guitars, mellotron, flutes, organ, bowed glockenspiel, drum, tubular bells Bobin Jon Michael Eirth

Recorded and mixed at die Graefehütte, Berlin, Germany.

Bobin Jon Michael Eirth is the man behind In Gowan Ring and Birch Book. Since the mid 90s, this prolific American singer-songwriter has recorded a dozen full-length albums.

On this 7", Eirth gives his very own folk take on two tracks that he loves:

- Taking Wing is a cover of a song by Mark Fry, the legendary English psychedelic folk musician. It appeared at the end of I Lived in Trees, a truly beautiful album that Fry recorded with The A. Lords.
B’ee - Voice, Acoustic Guitar, Mellotron flutes, Organ, Bowed Glockenspiel.

- Jacob Fleet is a cover of a song by English post-punk band And Also The Trees. It was taken from their synth-infused album Green Is The Sea.
B’ee - Voice, Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Mellotron Strings, Drum, Tubular Bells.

Notes:
01 Written by Mark Fry, Nicholas Palmer & Michael Tanner
02 Written by Simon Huw Jones, Steven Burrows, Nick Havas & Justin Jones

It is a Limited Edition release, with just 100 copies available (50 red sleeves and 50 black sleeves), and comes in a recycled gray cardstock silk-printed sleeve. Sleeve Design Damian O'Hara.

Birch Book - Birch Book EP - 2011

Quality: CBR 128 kbps (sorry no better copy available)

Label: Vinyl 10" + EP CD, Les Disques du 7ème Ciel, 7C2, France

01 Life's Lace

02 Le Temps De Vivre

03 La Chanson De Prévert

04 Son Du Soleil

05 Les Feuilles Mortes

06 Vent D'Automne

Credits:

Brier Nitz: backing vocals

Ron Walker: harmonium

B'ee: vocals, guitars & arrangements

Composed By – B'ee (04,06), Joseph Kosma (05)

Written And Composed By – B'ee (01), Georges Moustaki (02), Serge Gainsbourg (03)

Written By – B'ee, Carole Chiaramonti (04), B'ee, Damien Loret (06), Jacques Prévert (05)

Artwork Sleeve: Damian O'Hara 

Notes:

Vinyl & CD Limited Edition 

Aware of B'ee's interest in French language and culture, Les Disques du 7ème Ciel suggested that they collaborate on the release of a record based on French song.

Great EP, recomendation straight from the heart.

Birch Book - Tomorrow's Sun Will Rise The Same CDr - 2010

Quality: CBR 128 kbps (sorry no better copy available)

Label: Not On Label - Self-released, CD-r Limited Edition

01 Tomorrow's Sun Arises (B'ee)

02 Day For Night (Gene Clark)

03 Clothes Of Sand (Nick Drake)

04 Good Feeling (Gordon Gano)

05 The Stag (Angelo Branduardi)

06 Blessed Wild Apple Girl (Marc Bolan)

07 Silver Dagger (Traditional)

08 Ballad Of Easy Rider (Roger McGuinn)

09 A Little Bit Of Rain (Fred Neil)

10 Houses (Elyse Weinberg)

11 Corners Of My Life (Pac, Rycroft, McClellan)

12 Tomorrow's Sun Sets (B'ee)

Credits:

B'ee: renditions / arrangements

Sofie Kline: backing vocals (10)  

Gillian Hall: backing vocals (11)

Heather Comforto: cover patch

Méreau Woods: liner notes

Jacob Yvon-Leroux, Ron Walker: photography

Notes:

Traditional & Cover Songs, Recorded January, February & March 

Released Spring Equinox 2010 

Limited edition, signed album in handmade packaging sold directly through B'eirth to help fund Birch Book's 2010 European tour.

Superb album as always, some great rendition of song we well know from the past time. 
Very recommended (even if low bitrate), not to be missed this one!

Silver Dagger version is most beautiful ever!!!

Especially to my friend Kontaminacija!

Fern Knight - Live at WFMU - 2008

Quality: CBR 256 kbps + custom cover by me
Label: Not On Label - WFMU Radio Broadcast

01 Silver Fox
02 untitled
03 Lach Na Fooey
04 Synge's Chair
05 Epitaph
06 Magpie Suite

Live performance by Fern Knight at WFMU on Irene Trudel's Show on June 02 2008:

James Wolf: violin,
Jesse Sparhawk: harp, bass,
Margie Wienk: vocals, cello, acoustic guitar,
Jim Ayre: drums, Flying V

Engineer: Irene Trudel

On Fern Knight's new self-titled album, the listener is engulfed in imagery of pastoral scenes of folkloric greenery and of an earlier mystical age. Fern Knight is a they, not a she, a quartet bring fronted by the lovely voice of Margie Wienk.
As they describe it, "The calm surface of harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric bass underneath."

Note:
Here is the full (~42min) live performance by Fern Knight at WFMU, included all 6 tracks, not usual 5 (which will find on the web).

This is absolutely fantastic rendition of song, minimalistic, raw and very powerfull, especialy Epitph (King Crimson cover) have so much more beauty than studio version on the album.

Fern Knight - Blithewold EP - 2005

Quality: CBR 192 kbps
Label: Not On Label - Self-released, CD-r Limited Edition

01 Theme From: The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (Morricone)
02 Give Me Your Hand (Wienk)
03 The Summer Day Reflection Song (Donovan)
04 Eulogy To Lenny Bruce (Hardin)
05 Pearl's Dream (Schumann)
06 Piume Di Cristallo - Reprise

Recorded at home by Margie Wienk

Credits:
Alec K. Redfearn: accordion, vocals
Orion Rigel Dommisse: harmonium
Steve Jobe: hurdy gurdy
Margie Wienk: guitar, cello, vocals, bells, percussion, vibraphone (metallophone)

There is some very interesting covers, very good EP (and rare too).

Big thanks to my friend Rick for this EP.

Fern Knight - Castings - 2010

Quality: CBR 320 kbps
Label: VHF Records, VHF 122, US / LP VHF 122 Limited Edition, US

01 From Zero To Infinty
02 The Poisoner
03 Pentacles
04 Long Dark Century
05 Cave Of Swords
06 Cups And Wands
07 The Eye Of The Queen
08 Epitaph (written-by King Crimson)
09 Crumbling Stairs

Credits:
Jim Ayre: electric guitar, drums, percussion, vocals
Jesse Sparhawk: harp, bass, drums, electric guitar, vocals
James Wolf: violin
Margaret Ayre: vocals, cello, acoustic guitar

Notes:

Released in a Digipak.

Producer: Jim Ayre, Margaret Ayre

Recorded By: Jim Ayre

Written By: Margaret Ayre

Fern Knight - Fern Knight - 2008

Quality: CBR 320 kbps
Label: VHF Records, VHF 110, US

01 Bemused
02 Silver Fox
03 Sundew
04 Loch Na Fooey
05 Hawk Mountain
06 Synge's Chair
     Magpie Suite:
07 Prelude
08 Part II
09 Part III

Credits:
Jim Ayre: electric guitar (Flying V), drums, percussion
Jesse Sparhawk: harp, bass (electric bass)
James Wolf: violin
Margaret Wienk: vocals (singing), acoustic guitar, cello, double bass, harmonium, triangle, synthesizer (Arp Odyssey), metallophone, written-by (all songs), producer
Gillian Chadwick: backing vocals (07), choir (Boys' Choir) (09)
Orion Rigel Dommisse: backing vocals (07), choir (Boys' Choir) (09)
Greg Weeks: backing vocals, drums, synthesizer (Arp Odyssey) (07), recorder (08), electric guitar (09)

Notes:
Recorded by Greg Weeks, at Hexham Head, Philadelphia, PA
Photos by Alissa Anderson ©2007

Thanks to:
Ex Reverie, Jack Rose, A Fine Tooth, The Big Huge, Greg Weeks, Orion Rigel Dommisse, Arborea, Silver Summit, Moutain Home, Berry and Maurice at VPRO, Irene Trudel, David Garland, Ed Hardy at Eclipse, Alissa Anderson, Brooke Sietinsons, Howard and Amy Wuelfing, Katt Hernandez, Helena Espvall, Jay and
Joanne Eisenberg, Sam Cusumano, Julia Hebner, Lord Whimsy, Mark Schoneveld, The Honeymoon Compound and our families and friends.

Fern Knight - Music For Witches And Alchemists - 2006

Quality: CBR 320 kbps

Label: CD - VHF Records, VHF 101, US / LP - Eclipse Records, ECL-057, US

01 Song For Ireland

02 Awake, Angel Snake

03 W. Memphis

04 Murder Of Crows

05 Lintworme, Pt. I

06 Marble Grey

07 Shingle River

08 The Dirty South

09 Summer Of Throg

10 What The Crows Left Behind

11 Lullaby

Credits:

Alec K. Redfearn: accordion

Otto Hauser: drums, percussion

Orion Rigel Dommisse: harmonium, synthesizer

Jesse Sparhawk: harp

Christine Saraullo: saw

Meg Baird: vocals

Margie Wienk: vocals, guitar, cello, bells, triangle, producer, written & lyrics by

Greg Weeks: vocals, recorded by

Notes:

CD comes in a digifolder.

LP Hand-numbered, limited to 800 copies.

Fern Knight - Seven Years Of Severed Limbs - 2003

Quality: CBR 320 kbps
Label: Not On Label (self-released) UK,EU,US / Normal, NORMAL 246 CD, Germany

01 She Who Was So Precious To You
02 If I Could Write A Book About You
03 Wolf I
04 Theme
05 Kingdom
06 Wolf II
07 Chelyabinsk
08 Boxing Day
09 Mover Ghost / Mark The Days Off On Your Wall
10 Sunday Afternoons
11 Dog Named Summer

Credits:
Mike Corcoran: guitar, backing vocals, violin, steel guitar (lap)
Margie Wienk: vocals, guitar, cello, double bass (upright bass), piano, electric piano (Fender Rhodes), percussion (mallet), drums (08)
Joel Thibodeau: drums (01,11)
Alec K. Redfearn: accordion (05,07)

Notes:
Recorded and mixed between 1999 and 2002. Mastered at Peerless Mastering.

Margaret Ayre / Margie Wienk

Birch Book with Annelies Monseré - Tangles Of The Vine (VPRO Session) - 2005

Quality: CBR 192 kbps
Label: CD-r, sold through the artist

01 Christina's Song
02 New Song
03 Song Of The Nightingale
04 The Wandering Boy
05 Aurora
06 Train To Rome
07 Warm Wind And Rain
08 Young Souls
09 New Joy

Live session in the studios of Dutch broadcaster VPRO, August 2, 2005

Credits:
Composed By - B'ee (tracks: 2 to 4, 6 to 9)
Engineer - Berry Kamer
Lyrics By - B'ee (tracks: 5) , Blair Grant (tracks: 5) , Christina Rossetti (tracks: 1)
Recorded By - Berry Kamer
Annelies sings on several tracks recorded during a radiosession for VPRO.

Notes:
Single take performances recorded and engineered by Berry Kamer for "De Avonden" on VPRO, Amsterdam, Holland.
This is the CDr edition, whereof only a few copies were sold through the artist.
CDr housed in foldout cartonbox-slipcase.

Very intimate and beautiful release, recommended!

Avital Raz - Sad Songs About The End Of Love - 2012

 

 

Quality: CBR 128 kbps (sorry no better copy available)
Label: Digital Album / Self release

01 Lean Out
02 The Twilight
03 I Would
04 This Heart
05 My Dove
06 Because Your Voice
07 Strings
08 Silently
09 Gentle Lady
10 Rain Has Fallen
11 Sleep Now
 
Credits:
James Joyce - words
Avital Raz - music

Itzik Yona - guitars
Hemad Kamal - sarangi
Sasha Shlain - keyboards
David Martin - vocals
Avi Agababa - percussion
E. T. Doolin - bass guitar
Ronen Tat - bass guitar
Yosef Halachmi - drums
Ali Abas - shenai
Ari Gorali - piano
Eyal Faran - tibetan bowl

Notes:
Sad Songs About The End Of Love was recorded in 2004 in India and in Israel. The songs are based on James Joyce's Chamber Music poem cycle.
Till this year, Joyce's work was under copyright and his estate would not allow this music to be released.

Superb album, as usual. You like it, Recommended!

Avital Raz - Skin & Feathers EP - 2009

 

 

Quality: CBR 128 kbps (sorry no better copy available)
Label: Digital File / Self release

01 Sweeter Than Candy
02 Unknown Angry Female Rock Star
03 Beautiful (Kali's Garland)
04 Songs of Waiting
05 My Next Lover
06 #3972

Credits: No data available
released 26 September 2009

Avital Raz is a vocal artist who travels across many genres.
Her songs may resemble old English lute songs, Indian Classical Ragas, Cabaret, Blues or Eastern-European Jewish melodies. A multi-cultured get-together of many strange characters, all rolled up into one quirky singer- songwriter.

Great EP!

Nick Castro & The Young Elders - A Day Without Disaster (vinyl) - 2007

Quality: CBR 192 kbps (incl. covers)
Label: A Silent Place ASP25 10" Vinyl, Black or Gold, Italy

01 Lock & Key
02 Great Divide
03 Yadmur
04 Sirens
05 The Voyager

Credits:
Ryan Kirkpatrick - bass
Jebediah Lipson - guitar (dobro)
Wendy Watson - vocals, harmonium, whistle
Nicholas Javier Castro - voice, guitar, lute (saz), whistle, mandolin

Gold vinyl limited to 100 copies

Notes:
Embossed sleeve. Shaped poster included.
Black vinyl, limited to 500 copies.
Gold vinyl limited to 100 copies.

Nick Castro

I'm eternally grateful to my friend Bert for this album!