...Step out of the 'Haunted Forest' of 'Unfurling' and into the formal gardens of a castle. 16 songs set within different castle gardens - secret gardens, topiary gardens and of course, haunted gardens. "There are three main influences for this concept album - first of all, 'The Secret Garden' was one of my favourite films as a child (still is actually) - I especially love the 70's version by the BBC. So the Robin-Redbreast, who was an integral part of that story, makes a guest appearance here and there in 'Luminous Wings & Unseen Things'. Also, I'm currently living a few miles away from Powis Castle in Wales, which is famous for its magnificent terraced gardens, spooky misshapen yew hedges and its ghost stories (many, many ghosts haunt the castle and grounds). From childhood I have been drawn to ghost stories - my Irish nana firmly believed in the supernatural and had seen ghosts. Her stories, plus the influence of 'Wuthering Heights', 'The Ghost & Mrs Muir' and 'Dracula' when growing up, all combined to spark my intense interest in ghosts, vampires, faeries, werewolves - anything paranormal, otherworldly or mysterious. I've always loved the traditional (Victorian/Edwardian?) idea of faeries - especially little people with dragonfly-shaped-wings. I love miniature things. As a child, I hoped to wake up one morning and catch faeries living in my dolls' house. Sadly, I never did see any, but there were mice in there once! I'm yet to meet a vampire or werewolf, but I certainly have seen ghosts. I don't believe I'm psychic or have any 'special' abilities, but I lived in several haunted houses with my family and we all witnessed and experienced ghostly activity. My encounters with ghosts have badly frightened me, and excited my interest in finding out more. I'm fascinated. The ghosts were hovering around the edges of 'Unfurling' - in 'Luminous Wings & Unseen Things' they really came creeping in.. Then... my love of Celtic and traditional Folk ballads crept in too... So the end result is five traditional songs with a supernatural/garden theme, two poems that I've set to music (one by Thomas Hardy and the other a 16th century composition penned by an anonymous writer), and seven original songs that I've written, mostly since living in this Welsh valley, not far from the castle. There is also a 'live' recording of 'Moss' (a feature song from 'Unfurling'). The CD has been produced by Beck Siàn and Chris Gill (who is recording the CD for Beck). Chris has also contributed some beautiful, haunting guitar and music. All of the songs on 'Luminous Wings & Unseen Things' take a walk through a different garden - some of them are filled with sunlight and you can imagine the scent of hot lavender bushes, bumble-bees droning past, dragonflies dipping their wings into the still, dark pond... some of them are set within the yew hedges at night fall, when the old ghosts and memories of the gardens are most palpable. As with 'Unfurling', I wanted to take the listener on a journey through the light and shade of different settings and emotions. I've attempted to make the music as visual as I can. For me, songwriting and creating music is all about the moods, colours, feelings and atmospheres. I just want to capture and express the vibes. I hope that I've achieved that with 'Luminous Wings & Unseen Things'. I hope that the listener will instantly be transported to a beautiful, haunted garden somewhere." You'll have your chance to visit Beck Siàn's haunted gardens very soon... 'Luminous Wings & Unseen Things' is due to be released in August 2009... not long to go now...