Secret Garden Gathering - 'Is-Y-Deri'

After more than a decade in the shadows, Liverpool’s Secret Garden Gathering have returned with 'Is-Y-Deri', a live EP that feels like an intimate reintroduction rather than just a reunion. Recorded in North Wales “beneath the oak,” this collection drips with moonlit vulnerability and a quiet, undeniable power; the kind that only surfaces after years of distance and growth.

From the first moments of 'Talking Numb3rs', you’re swept into an immersive haze of shimmering guitars and ethereal vocals. The song unfolds like a half-remembered dream: its insistent rhythmic undercurrent propels you forward while the lyrics suggest a tender struggle for release. There’s a heady sense of motion here, like running through mist, breath catching, and heart pushing on despite the fog.

'Fallen Leaves' offers a poignant push and pull; its layered harmonies and softly fuzzed-out guitar lines conjure a bittersweet warmth that’s impossible to resist. It’s a song that holds your hand even as it admits to wanting to disappear, channelling the ache of fleeting connections and quiet confessions shared in moonlit corners.

With '[From] The Shire (with love)', Secret Garden Gathering lean into a bright melancholy that recalls the gossamer edges of 80s jangle pop. The interplay of sparkling guitar lines and confessional lyrics feels both nostalgic and immediate, a love letter to every fleeting face in the crowd you never quite forget.

While 'Hiding Out' is drenched in late-night reverie; the song’s twang and synth shimmer create a horizon you can almost touch. The vocals feel both ghostly and grounding, like a voice calling out from a distant shore.

Closing track 'You are the Darkness after my Dawn' captures the EP’s delicate, introspective, and beautifully unguarded essence perfectly. As it builds from quiet contemplation into an impassioned bloom, it feels like a deep exhale after holding your breath for years.

With 'Is-Y-Deri', Secret Garden Gathering prove that time apart can lead to something even more magnetic and raw. This EP is a lush, living testament to rediscovered magic, and to wounds healed beneath old oaks and new stars. It invites you to linger and remember that sometimes the quietest returns echo the loudest in the heart.