TRACK// Molly Drake: I Remember

Last night I revisited one of my favourite radio documentaries 'Three Records from Sundown'. In it, record producer Joe Boyd remembers his time working with the infinitely enigmatic Nick Drake, and the result is a heartbreaking story of self-doubt and unappreciated genius. What caught my ear this time however, were the minutes recalling Molly Drake, Nick's relatively unknown mother. Her voice is described as very English, as though drifting down the street from a Sunday afternoon music hall. Nick's own guitar tone can be heard in her piano chords, and in her voice the sad and almost whimsical quality of his. Her music is humbling, and the adulation of Mr Drake caught at the end of 'I Remember' evokes a forgotten era of simple pleasure and the simple summer breeze.