Behind the Songs: The Light

​The Light was born in a moment of collective pause.

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In 2021, I was invited back to the TEDx Cumbernauld Women stage following my earlier talk shaped by Little Bird, Little Sailor. The theme that year was both simple and disarming: What now?
 

It was a question many of us were holding - personally, creatively, and quietly in our bodies.

 

I came together with Yvonne Lyon and Adriana Spina to write a song that didn’t try to answer that question too quickly. We stayed with it instead. With friendship. With uncertainty. With the sense that whatever came next would need to be shaped together.

 

What emerged was The Light - a song about relational hope.
Not the kind that pushes forward, but the kind that stays.

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At its heart is a line that continues to find its own way into people’s lives: “The light in me honours the light in you.”
It’s not a demand. It’s a recognition. An acknowledgement that sometimes we see each other more clearly than we can see ourselves.

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When we first performed the song live at TEDx, it was held inside a room full of ideas about rebuilding, re-imagining, and designing new ways forward. But underneath that energy was something more tender - a shared need for reassurance, steadiness, and connection in the aftermath of change.

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Over time, The Light has continued to evolve - as songs often do - alongside life.

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Following the loss of my father, I returned to the song from a different place entirely. Grief narrowed everything. The nervous system speaks more quietly there. What I needed wasn’t uplift - it was something to sit beside.

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The Candlelight Remix, released in winter 2024, came from that season.

Stripped back, slower, and intentionally spacious, it was my first step back into music after loss. I wanted the song to feel like a companion rather than a statement - something that could be played softly, returned to, or simply allowed to be present.

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I often hear from people who don’t “listen” to The Light as much as live alongside it. Played during difficult times or returned to during times of transition. Letting the song do what music does best - regulate, hold, and remind us that we are not alone.

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On Saturday 14th Feb 2026, The Light will be performed live at the 'No Regrets' concert in Airdrie in memory of Brian Doig - a founding member of The Homebird Sessions community, a much-loved supporter of Scottish independent music, and a dear friend to all three of us who co-wrote this song.

 

Singing it now carries a different kind of weight - one shaped by loss, gratitude, and the enduring light people leave behind in the lives they’ve touched.

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The Light isn’t here to fix anything.
It doesn’t rush grief or bypass difficulty.

It’s here to offer presence and to honour connection....and to remind us that sometimes light doesn’t mean brightness - it simply means staying, together, until the next breath arrives.

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​Listen | Lyrics