The Owl Service – A Tribute to Sandy Denny: Single Review

By John Barlass on 22nd November 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

The Owl Service collective pays tribute to the incomparable Sandy Denny with a pair of the finest songs that she was ever associated with. Their versions of The Sea and Genesis Hall are authentic, respectful and fresh-sounding. Anyone tackling a Sandy Denny song needs to do it properly, and that’s exactly what The Owl Service have done

Release Date: 12th November 2025

Label: Fruits de Mer Records

Format: Digital

THE OWL SERVICE

The Owl Service originally emerged from a project that founder Steven Collins was pursuing, back in 2006. It’s always been a loose collective and, in its first incarnation, it lasted until 2016, with (I reckon) some nine albums, plus a whole string of singles and EPs seeing light of day along the way. In 2021, Steven received a commission from Southend’s Focal Point Gallery and, in order to honour that commission, he phoned round his friends and brought The Owl Service back to life. The revived collective released an EP, English Country Music and The Owl Service were back in business.

Since then, the Owl Service has continued along its, sometimes unpredictable, path, always with Steven Collins at its heart and often producing innovative versions of traditional songs, alongside interpretations of the works of favoured artists, and that’s where A Tribute to Sandy Denny, the collective’s latest venture, comes in.

TWO WELL-LOVED SONGS

A Tribute to Sandy Denny is a 2-track single that features two of the best-loved songs with which Sandy was associated – The Sea and Genesis Hall. I choose my words carefully because, as many readers will realise, although The Sea is one of Sandy’s finest ever compositions, Genesis Hall is actually a Richard Thompson song, albeit one that was sung exquisitely by Sandy when it first appeared on Fairport’s seminal Unhalfbricking album.

HEARTFELT VOCALS

Let’s take the songs one-by-one…

There’s a full sound to The Sea, with layered acoustic guitars making most of the initial running. The vocals are exemplary – the breathy voice could easily be mistaken for Sandy’s own. Electric guitars chime nicely and the strings are suitably and admirably discrete.

The version of Genesis Hall is equally charming; the interpretation doesn’t deviate too far from Fairport’s original but the beautiful, intimate, heartfelt vocal will send shivers down your spine. Well – that’s what it did to me…

IS THERE MORE ON THE WAY?

Altogether, these are authentic, respectful and fresh-sounding versions of two well-loved songs and it occurred to me that anyone attempting to cover a Sandy Denny song needs to be able to do so as competently and as sympathetically as The Owl Service have managed here. In fact, I’d go as far as suggesting that, with a voice like that, within The Owl Service’s ranks, perhaps a full-album tribute to Sandy might be worth considering.

Listen to The Sea, one of single’s two songs, below: