Top Tracks: Karine Polwart – Ophelia

Many artists channel their own personal experiences and feelings into their work, and in turn we who listen use that art to frame and understand our own emotions and the situations that we find ourselves in. It’s a beautiful thing, but sometimes we can get too caught up in ourselves, spend so much time looking inwards, that we forget that there’s a whole world out there. That’s what makes this new single from award winning Scottish singer/songwriter Karine Polwart so refreshing. ‘Ophelia’, taken from her upcoming album Laws Of Motion out 19th October, reflects on the hurricane of the same name; the awe of beholding it and the thought of the scars it left behind. Thinking on the impact it caused, the lives it altered, lets you empathise with the plights of another. Thinking of its indescribable size and power helps remind you how insignificant we all are. All together, ‘Ophelia’ is a lesson in how we’re all tiny pieces in big, complex world, and the differences that divide us matter little in the larger scheme of things.

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