Solstice Kiss

Album: Direction Of The Heart (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • The solstice comes on the day with the most (summer) or least (winter) sunlight of the year. It's a significant at various festivals and as part of different religious ceremonies. In this song, Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr wakes up to a solstice kiss that feels like a calling from a higher power.

    The lyric was inspired by the music. "I was working with a lot of Gaelic singers and Celtic musicians," he said in a video about the making of the Direction Of The Heart album. "I had a melody in my head that was very much of the islands of the West Coast of Scotland, so I incorporated that into the writing."
  • Simple Minds had been tinkering with this song for years before they finally released it on their Direction Of The Heart album in 2022. The original idea came from their bass player, Ged Grimes. Guitarist Charlie Burchill added the Celtic intro, and Kerr contributed lyrics. When they worked it up for the album, it all came together.
  • The female vocalist on the track is Sarah Brown, an official member of the band who first started recording with Simple Minds on their 2014 album Big Music. Steeped in gospel, she's also toured as a backing singer for Roxy Music and Duran Duran. The album was recorded largely during the pandemic, so she recorded her vocals separately in London.

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