WHILE the coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact, lock-downs have led to many musicians carrying on being creative, collaborating, finding new and resourceful ways to do so, and trying to make sense of the times.

This was the case when The Moonbeams’ main songwriter and frontman Jon Avison, and Martin Beek, a well known and respected Oxford-based artist and lyricist, got together.

A lockdown project was born and the album Songs From A Watchful World was created with Martin’s words set to Jon’s tunes. Martin also provided the artwork for the project.

They were aided by a host of talented musicians including Ben Avison, Sam Lawrence and Thom Paisley from The Moonbeam Collective, forming something of a Yorkshire folk super-group.

The album was recorded in different locations including Long Preston, Bentham, Wolvercote, Manchester and Ely and assembled on site by Sam Parkinson - who also drummed on the album- at his Stonegate Studios in Bentham.

The band name ‘Beulah’s Boneyard’ references the influence that the poet and mystic William Blake has upon the work of the artists. In Blake’s mythology Beulah is the realm of the imagination and the boneyard is the place where planes go to die. This they felt reflected the grounding of all our lives through the Covid lockdowns.

Jon found a lyrical compatriot in Martin, as much of his previous work with The Moonbeams has stemmed from and been inspired by the Yorkshire Dales. Similarly, nature abounds in Martin’s imagery as he immerses himself in drawing inspiration from the landscape, taking an almost romantic 19th-century approach to exploring the natural world with notebook, easel and palette.

The album aims to remind listeners of those crystal clear early summer days of 2020, while commenting upon the restrictions and the changes that have been thrust upon the public at large.

As Beulah’s Boneyard say, ‘In the turbulent summer of 2020, we found ourselves dazed, bewildered and locked in isolation in Beulah’s Boneyard. In our bubble of semi-consciousness, we vowed to never let our experiences be forgotten and solemnly pledged to chronicle our time in the boneyard somehow.’

The album is being launched nationally on February 26 and is available from Jon Avison at themoonbeams@hotmail.co.uk ,can be downloaded from Bandcamp https://beulahsboneyard.bandcamp.com/ or from Spotify, itunes etc

More information about Beulah’s Boneyard can be found on their Facebook page.