Hayden Thorpe Shares Brand New Song 'Doom Orchid'

Following on from the release of his third studio album Ness last year, Hayden Thorpe has shared a brand-new song, “Doom Orchid”, on which he continues to explore the mysteries of Suffolk’s Orford Ness and the destructive nature of the atomic weapon research that happened there.

Thorpe elaborates: “Performing the album at Orford Ness beside a nuclear missile had a profound effect on me. I came to see the missile as strange phallic totem, not a fertility symbol but the inverse of that, a ridiculous hyper-macho amulet of death. Doom Orchid explores our very human dark urges and how our destructive impulses and our libidinous wants must agonisingly co-exist. It’s a love letter to Ness, but perhaps the sort of letter that reveals a little too much.”

Alongside “Doom Orchid”, Thorpe releases “Listen To Ness: In Conversation with Robert MacFarlane”, a long-form recording of a discussion between the two collaborators on all things Ness: its origins and how the project grew to what it is today.

Stream “Listen To Ness: In Conversation with Robert MacFarlane” here.

Thorpe starts his UK tour of Ness this weekend, full dates below with select appearances from Robert MacFarlane.

Orford Ness is a ten-mile long shingle spit on the coast of Suffolk, the former Ministry of Defence site during both World Wars and the Cold War, it was acquired by the National Trust in 1993 and left to re-wild. To this day, it remains a place of paradox, mystery and constant evolution. Using a process of redaction, Thorpe brings the songs to life from the words of pioneering, best-selling place writer Robert Macfarlane’s book of the same name. Stream Ness here.

Upcoming live dates

• Saturday 25^th January – Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
• Sunday 26^th January – Celtic Connections @ City Halls Recital Room, Glasgow
• Tuesday 28th January – Music Room, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
• Wednesday 29^th January – National Centre For Early Music, York
• Thursday 30th January – Sage 2, The Glasshouse International Centre For Music, Gateshead
• Friday 31^st January – The Gate, Cardiff
• Saturday 1^st February – The Lantern, Bristol Beacon, Bristol
• Sunday 2^nd February – Blackwell Performance Space, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Birmingham - matinee
• Tuesday 4^th February – Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich
• Wednesday 5^th February – Komedia, Brighton
• Thursday 6^th February – Storey’s Field Centre, Cambridge w/ Robert Macfarlane
• Friday 7^th February – Kings Place, London w/ Robert Macfarlane – sold out
• Saturday 12^th April – L’Archipel, Paris
• Sunday 13^th April – Effenaar, Eindhoven
• Tuesday 15^th April – Haldern Pop Bar, Rees
• Wednesday 16^th April – Jaki, Cologne
• Friday 17^th April – Baketown, Berlin
• Saturday 18^th April – Trafo, Jena
• Sunday 19^th April – Feinkost Lampe, Hanover
• Wednesday 7^th May – Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival @ The Deer’s Head, Belfast
• Thursday 8^th May – The Grand Social, Dublin
• Friday 9^th May – St Michael’s Church, Manchester