I want to be Karine Polwart when I grow up. I also love singing this song.

That said, to me it has the sound of something written in the sleep-deprived (and perhaps alcohol-influenced) haze following an epic session: the words are very poetic, but they don't all really make sense upon reflection, i.e. "snow-scented sounds..."?!?

In the liner notes of Malinky's "3 Ravens" (on which the song appears as the final track), this is what they say:

"The tune surfaced backstage after a gig at the 2002 Shetland Folk Festival, where we had the mightiest craic ever. Steve was playing away a few chords on the guitar and Karine sang the melody over the top whereupon we insisted that our splendidly musically-literate fiddler Jon write it down before the Balvenie made us forget it..."

[My note: if you're not familiar with the term, "craic," it's a Gaelic word that implies great conversation, understanding, rapport, or--in the context of a session--the sort of intensely satisfying musical connection experienced when all the players "click" and the harmonies and rhythms spring forth without apparent effort.]

--Cuilionn