Darren Hayman is back, with a second volume of songs resulting from his Thankful Villages project. The fourth village is Chantry, Somerset.

Chantry, Somerset – Thankful Village #22 from Darren Hayman on Vimeo.

Back to solo travelling for my visit to Chantry. Ok, just one last church. It is Easter after all.

Sometimes the songs are reflections of the villages. Other times the villages reflect my own troubles back at me. In Chantry I was glad to find the church open so just sat down and sung this into my iPhone. I wrote the lyrics in the visitor book.

They have made an effigy of the crucified Christ from pieces of B&Q battening, and used barbed wire as his crown of thorns.

In fact, I do not immediately recognise it as Christ at all. The church itself is as intricately carved and crafted as I have now come to expect Somerset churches to be.

Sometimes I look into the villages, and sometimes they stare hard back at me. Sometimes I just look hard at myself. Sometimes I could be anywhere. The journeys are long and lonely and I am prone to introspection. I am selfish; I probably let you down Chantry.

I shrank into myself.

This is a song about turning back time, but you can’t. Then you try and persuade people to make everything like before, but it’s impossible.

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Thankful Villages Volume 2 will be released on Rivertones on 26 May. Preorder a copy here.

Darren’s release day gig has now sold out, but we’ve added a second Horse Hospital date: Thursday 25 May. Support comes from Rivertones labelmates July Skies. Tickets won’t be around for long — nab ’em here.

Previous Thankful Villages posts on Caught by the River/Darren Hayman on Twitter