Gawain and the Green Knight are a literary folk duo of Alexia Antoniou and Mike O’Malley, whose stage act (as far as we know) does not include challenging the pure of heart to a little game of turn and, one year later, turn about with a giant battle axe. Nor does it involve breaking in upon Arthur at his castle of Camelot whilst he feasts the birth of the saviour. Nope, there’s none of that on new song ‘Fingers.‘ What there is, is a stunningly beautiful declaration of eternal love – a declaration that is publicly made and promises love from this point to the grave: “I will share my grave with you / As you have shared your bed with me / How I hope / Our ribs and our bones / Lace like fingers.”
Alexia Antoniou explained the story behind ‘Fingers‘ saying that it is “a love song for my soon-to-be husband [bandmate Mike O’Malley], simple as that.” The pair were on a flight on which they were unable to get seats together and, Antoniou continued, “I had been reading Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles and finished it mid-flight and was just completely emotionally devastated. I wasn’t just teary-eyed, I was outright weeping- so much so that the woman next to me took one look at me and started turning up the volume on her little headrest TV. I managed to make meaningful eye contact with Mike across the aisle, and with a few gestures of the head, he agreed to meet me near the airplane toilets so I could cry some more on him. ‘Fingers’ was inspired by that whispered conversation.”
