Laura Cannell has just released her WOLFLORE EP, marking the halfway point of her Year of Lore: a project which sees the composer and multi-instrumentalist create new music reflecting real and imagined ‘Lores’ for every month of 2024. Cannell leans into the stories and folklore of people, places and animals which find their way into her music, drawing from the earth, the sea and the landscape to give a voice to the uncanny and the unseen.

Of the WOLFLORE EP, Cannell writes: ‘WOLFLORE holds 4 songs which take inspiration from the Wolf. I was thinking about where Wolves live, how they behave, and why and how they vocalise.

I wanted to use a different voice, so I played a violin that I have adapted with Octave Strings. The strings are thick and rasping, they howl and shimmer on their own, but the instrument is a normal violin. The strength of the voice comes from a small powerful body, like the wolf.’ Listen below.

WOLFLORE is performed on Octave Violin with a Baroque Violin Bow. It was written, recorded and performed by Laura Cannell, June 2024.

Sixth in the Year of Lore series, WOLFLORE follows RAVENLORE (May), MOUNTAINLORE (April), RIVERLORE (March) EARTHLORE (February) and SEALORE (January). Listen to all the Year of Lore releases here.

Laura performs music from her Year of Lore — and then alongside Stewart Lee as part of his music-enhanced comic monologue Pea Green Boat — at Black Shuck Festival in Suffolk in August. More information/tickets (£10) here.