Listenbee – “Nottamun Town”

It is always nice when something old gets freshened up with a new coat of paint. This applies to music as well, as older tracks get remixed, reinterpreted or otherwise redone, breathing new life into the sounds of yesteryear. LA-based producer Listenbee has taken this idea to a kind of extreme with his latest track, “Nottamun Town.” Based on a ballad thought to have originated in medieval England, the song has filtered down the centuries for generations of new hearers.

In Listenbee’s case, it was renowned 1950’s folk artist Jean Ritchie’s version that caught his ears. In his own words: “When I first heard Jean Ritchie’s version of ‘Nottamun Town,’ I felt like I had stumbled into some kind of cool ass time warp. I could feel the history in it. I wanted to create a song that could exist in the modern world but still have the pulse and feeling of all that history. This song is special to me, and I hope it captures people’s imaginations the same way it captured mine.”

The charming animated video only adds to the effect, with the feel of medieval woodcuts, the implied passage of time and the loss of eras gone by. You can revisit “Nottamun Town” here, and we encourage you to investigate further the wonderous world of Listenbee!