In this session, recorded at the Real World Studios, Dan Whitehouse is utterly captivating, producing a mesmerising performance with just his guitar and striking voice. His vocal delivery is smooth, warm and deeply resonant, displaying wonderful range and genuine emotion, especially during the almost-whispered moment in the middle of ‘Thin Blue Line’.
Whitehouse shares the song’s themes and inspiration: “Antarctica has many bodies buried within the ice (some from over two hundred years ago), which slowly move towards the sea within the glacial flows. I’d become aware that it had been noted that a thin blue line will appear just beneath the surface of the ice, indicating a void below. This is often the last thing people see before they die there. It’s a metaphor for going to visit my son in Japan and losing my identity as a musician, as I knew I would be unable to work there. I was facing a personal void, I could see my identity disappearing into oblivion.” It’s heartfelt, emotional material that Whitehouse delivers with great sensitivity and grace.
The original version of the song appeared on 2023 album ‘The Glass Age’, which was written during the pandemic and explored how so much of our communication and relationship with the world is now through screens; the songs expanded on this theme, like studies of the nature of glass, both physically and metaphorically. Whitehouse then revisited the songs, releasing acoustic-folk interpretations, transforming them into something entirely new in the album ‘Reflections From The Glass Age’. He said: “These new versions of the songs evolved so organically. They began life in hibernation, and were recorded and produced remotely. Now, stepping out from behind the glass, I’ve been able to breathe new life into them.” These are timeless songs, in which you can lose yourself.
Songs from those two albums and 2022’s ‘Voices from the Cones’ have been gathered together for the truly hypnotic live experience, ‘A Night of Glass’. As you can see in this recording of ‘Thin Blue Line’, Whitehouse’s reflections on the nature of ice and glass are the point at which music can become something magical. Details of the 2024 tour are here.
