Folk musician Sam Carter heads in to Home Waters at The Spring Arts Centre, Havant

When that was put out in early 2020, the award-winning folk singer-songwriter had no idea quite how prescient it would prove to be.

His previous album, 2016’s How The City Sings, had been an extended ode to his then home town of London.

Shortly after its release, the East Midlands-native moved up to Sheffield.

‘I just fancied a change and I still wanted city life but I also wanted to get out to The Peaks and one day, in the glimmer of hope, that I might actually be able to buy a place to live and not just be a starving artist forever – I’d still be an artist, but maybe not be starving!

‘It's been interesting to see how that's affected the way I've been writing and what's come out in the recent album – it's been good.’

How does he feel a year on from Home Waters’ release – and that tagline?

‘Nobody could have predicted how on the nose that was going to be,’ Sam laughs. ‘I think the songs have connected maybe in a particular way because of that – it's a funny one, but it's definitely felt like some sort of anchor.

‘And it's definitely a more soothing album generally than How The City Sings, which was a bit more fraught.

‘This one, if anything, is a bit more relaxed, it's got the strings on there, it's more acoustic – the electric guitar doesn't flare up so much on this one. I guess it's just a product of where you are in every respect, the music you make.

‘This was the atmosphere of the music I was making this time. If I was making it six months later, a) I might not have been able to make it, b) it probably would have sounded quite different!’

One major change in the sound of Home Waters, Sam’s fourth album, is the addition of a string quartet.

‘I just heard things differently. I've always brought bands in to work with on my solo stuff – it's always been drums and bass and that kind of layered up sound.

‘But I started thinking I'd make it a bit more stripped down – maybe lose the drums and a large part of the bass, and just see if the guitar could have a bit more space and what that would be like. I started thinking about strings because the songs seemed to lend themselves to that sound.

‘I tend to write quite visually – the lyrics are often quite image-based, so something about the sound of the strings and a string quartet generally have got that cinematic atmosphere to them, and I felt that would offset some of the imagery quite well.

‘The other big factor is that I worked with a guy called Ian Stephenson who's a producer who lives in Northumberland.

‘He owns this lovely little studio and he worked with this string quartet recently, so when I was suggesting to him and we were talking through ideas for the album, he said, I know who would be perfect for this.

‘A lot of the sound of the album is that particular studio which is an old converted church with a great acoustic sound – and then that quartet.

‘As with everything, there was a bit of envisioning a way to go, and quite a lot of things just happening and coming together!