We Speak Folk

ALL THE BEES release stunning debut alt-folk single ‘Wildflowers’

Published

3 years ago

October 27, 2023

Don Reed

Two women posing against a white background, one with short silver hair wearing a lace top with large blue butterfly wings, the other wearing a straw hat with a veil and holding a green butterfly net.

‘All the Bees’ are Kirsty McGee and Gitika Partington, two highly experienced writer-musicians who have created an exciting new album of gentle yet deep, pastoral alt-folk that brings together their distinctive styles into a crisp, fresh new collaboration that weaves its stunning, reflective songs like gossamer threads around the ear.

McGee is an award-winning wandering maverick and spellbinding live performer who has been releasing music and performing all over the world for over twenty years. Her fans include Emma Watson and Danny Boyle, for whose 2014 thriller ‘Trance’ the song ‘Sandman’ provided a cornerstone, both in its original version and covered by lead actress Rosario Dawson.

Partington, has had a similarly vibrant and varied career in music to date, releasing seven albums which have achieved critical acclaim and national airplay from likes of BBC 6 Music. She has created 4 books of multi-genre choral acapella arrangements published by OUP and Hal Leonard and multi layered vocal tracks for Warner Chappell and Peermusic. During the lockdown of Spring 2020, she directed nearly 100 community singers and produced 9 award winning, original, quirky virtual choir videos of her choral arrangements.

Introspective, heartfelt and unashamed of straying into poetry, the pair’s lyrics focus on nature themes and cycles including loss, death and rebirth – take for example their debut single ‘Wildflowers’, which is a hazy, ethereal track that conjures a fragrant meandering reflective walk in the countryside, as autumn turns to winter, remembering the wildflowers and the abundance of summer.

On the inspiration behind the new single, McGhee reveals, “Having grown up pretty wild in the country, as a child I was fascinated in a Victorian tradition called ‘floriography’ that allowed lovers and friends to deliver clandestine messages to one another using a symbolic ‘language of flowers’. This is such a fun well of unspoken meaning for a lyricist. ‘Yarrow’ – a British wildflower whose Latin name ‘millefolium’ translates as ‘one thousand leaves’ has been used to secretly communicate everlasting love, bravery and even has the country name ‘bad man’s plaything’. Meadowsweet, by contrast, means beauty, happiness, peace and protection but was also thought to deter snakes. For years I’ve enjoyed a ‘private language’ when choosing flower names in my lyrics. All the Bees, steeped in countryside folklore, is a perfect project for me to use this forgotten language.”

McGee and Partington crossed paths by chance on a lockdown film and TV sync music zoom course and started working together remotely. Over the next 3 years, through major grief from close family deaths, illness, the crashing lack of usual musical ventures and the whole trauma of the pandemic, McGee and Partington immersed themselves in their new-found collaboration and created the debut, self-titled All the Bees album, which is due for release this winter.

The duo have only met three times in real life – most of that time was spent cooking and eating seriously healthy and beautiful plant-based food. Their perfect blend of harmonies and musical flow on ‘Wildflowers’ and through-out the new album suggests some kind of pre-destined deeper connection.

All The Bees debut single ‘Wildflowers’ comes out on 27^th October via Hobopop Recordings, with the self-titled debut album to follow on 8^th December 2023.

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We Speak Folk

Shane Pendergast Releases Reflective Fifth Album Jack Pine

Published

1 day ago

November 1, 2026

We Speak Media

Shane Pendergast. Photo via @shanependy.

Prince Edward Island singer and songwriter Shane Pendergast has released his fifth album, Jack Pine, a thoughtful collection of folk songs exploring history, nature and the ever changing cycles of life.

The album arrived on October 23, 2026 and holds twelve songs running about forty three minutes. Led by the focus track The Maiden Voyage, the record captures the uncertainty of new beginnings while reflecting on the connections between past and present. To preserve the honesty of that song, Pendergast and engineer and co producer Mark Westberg recorded it solo and live off the floor, allowing the lyric and the performance to speak for themselves.

The title track draws on Pendergast long fascination with jack pines, hardy and unconventional trees that can grow in barren and unforgiving ground. The song finds beauty in adapting to difficult surroundings without losing sight of who you are, and its roots reach back to the work of Prince Edward Island poet Milton Acorn, whose writing about the tree resonated with the singer. Acclaimed singer and songwriter Catherine MacLellan contributes backing vocals to the title track, adding another distinctly Island voice to the recording.

Much of the album was tracked over five days with the band camped inside a rural Prince Edward Island church, a setting that kept the performances close and communal. Drawing on Eastern Canadian folk traditions, Pendergast continues to explore the natural world, the sea and the passage of time through his songwriting.

Pendergast also hosts the Jack Pine Folk Club on the Island, a gathering dedicated to folk music and poetry, and he was recently nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the 2026 Canadian Folk Music Awards. With its stripped back arrangements and heartfelt storytelling, Jack Pine is a beautiful reminder of why traditional folk music continues to resonate.