“
beltane” features Cornell’s signature delicate yet powerful vocals, wrapped in a minimalistic arrangement of gentle bass strums, soothing water droplets and birdsongs. With a languid tempo and an evocative call-out build-up, the track unfolds into a wistful, cinematic soundscape that mirrors the bittersweet journey of heartbreak and healing.
The name comes from the annual Celtic festival Beltane, held one night a year from 30 April into 1 May. Associated with rituals centred around fertility, fire, the blossoming of spring and the renewal of life, it was traditionally a time of celebration, featuring dancing around maypoles, bonfires and feasting.
Recorded in Cornwall, United Kingdom, with London-based writer/producer Will Vaughan (Oliver Tree, Dorian Electra, KSI, Mae Muller), “beltane” began in Ibiza when Cornell’s life had fallen to pieces.
“I was meant to be there on my honeymoon, but because my partner and I had split right after my Dad died, I took a bunch of women instead. It was wild and fun and just the medicine I needed but it was also sad and destructive and rattling to my soul.”
“I was taking endless baths and regularly in the pool trying to wash off my pain and I made a series of recordings whilst staying there, of the sounds of my bath interwoven with birdsong,” said Cornell.
With all songs on the album written across one year, “beltane” shows the evolution of Cornell’s recording process.
“I explored more of my range in “beltane”. I think my experience making films and theatre means I am always thinking of the full sound scape and the theatricality of it. I want a whole world created that the listener can step into and lose themselves in, as if one had stepped off the path into a fairy ring and is suddenly in an entirely different realm of colour and light.”
