Darren Hayman & The Long Parliament – How Long Have You Been Fighting For? by Fortuna POP!

‘How Long Have You Been Frightened For’ is a song taken from a 20 song double LP chronicling the 17th Century Essex Witch Trials during the English Civil Wars.

The album deals with fear and isolation, the way we use our own terror in times of trouble to lash out at the week. It’s about how societies persecutes otherness and outsiders.

The beliefs and fears that led to the Witch Trials are taken from the Puritan idea that it is wrong to glorify or look upon God’s image directly. Taken to its absolute extreme, only the blind were seen as truly pure, and ungodliness was perceived to be everywhere.

This is Hayman’s idea of a puritan love song with distressed woodwind teasing out the angels in the trees.

The Violence itself is an outstanding creative achievement, a truly unique and unprecedented album.

‘It’s about how violence frightens us and how fear just leads to greater violence,’ says Hayman.