Daphne & Apollo is about the dynamic of desire; attachment and aversion, and is a fresh take on an old Greek myth, told by Ovid in Metamorphoses. In vengeance for mocking him, Eros smites the sun god Apollo with a gold-tipped arrow so that when he sees the wood nymph Daphne he falls helplessly in-love with her. Daphne, who is smitten with a lead-tipped arrow feels deep aversion and as she runs away so begins the chase. As Apollo finally closes in on her, Daphne calls on her father, the river god Peneus, to help her, and he casts her into a laurel tree. Apollo can no longer have her body, but he cuts a bough in which he makes the first lyre, and the laurel branch becomes the mark of champions at the Olympic games and of the Caesers; pretty ironic, as Apollo is hardly a winner in this story. In some analyses this story is about rape. For me, Daphne the virgin nymph represents that in us that is wild, the free, the untouched. Apollo, the accomplished doer in the story of our selves, mocks Eros and underestimates his power (as Cupid, Eros represents the infantile nature of clinging love) and in his desire to attain this beautiful free aspect of self he changes her form, which comes about in Daphne's metamorphosis into a tree. If the unattainable becomes attained, its essence is no longer the same. In this song, through playing the lyre, Apollo tells his side of the story, and yet this instrumental body of Daphne also begins to tell her part in the second half of the song.
It was an honour and and experience to work with Sarah Grocer on this project. She plays the baroque family of string instruments; the viols, viola de gamba, the violone, similar to the violin family but with frets and variations in stringing and tuning. Their timbre for me evokes the energy of a more ancient time, and the violone is some growling bear of an instrument! - perfect for a bit of menace. Bringing Alex Petcu into the studio, his timpani and other percussive instruments was a fine day. A-bang-banging all Rik's kitchen utensils out of their holdings. His musical understanding and ability is mind-blowing and he added such dramatic intensity to the whole piece, rather effortlessly. Again, this was a difficult track to arrange and produce, because of its complexity and the fullness of the mix, but I think, with Rik's skill we pulled it off. When the mastering engineer Jon Astley finished the track, he exclaimed "Phew! That was exhausting!" Well so it should be if you are running for your life.