Born in 2018, in a polarised pre-pandemic world, The Greatest Endangered Thing began with a question: “What would it be like to escape the digital noise and bustle of modern life and return to the stillness of things that truly matter - love, kindness, connection, universal humanity, and the beauty of the natural world that surrounds us?”

Over the next two years, partners Samuel James Taylor and Rebecca Van Cleave found solace in the hills and valleys of the rolling English countryside and remembered what it was to be connected with their surroundings. Sitting alongside contemporaries such as Gregory Alan Iskaov and The Lumineers and drawing inspiration from the works of Ruskin, Turner and Mary Oliver, their new offering brims with tranquil reflections, fusing classic instrumentation with modern soundscapes to create a tender collection of songs. The name itself was taken from a poem by Nikita Gill entitled Your Soft Heart.

“I had been an admirer of Nikita’s poetry for a while, but I vividly remember the day that I first read Your Soft Heart,” says Van Cleave. “It was during a peak period of such intensity and polarity on the internet and news cycles. It felt like we were actively having to seek out these small pockets of goodness, warmth, humanity, shared connection. The world felt like it had kicked into a gear that neither of us could keep up with and we were struggling to find where we fit into it all, how we could offer some kind of peace into an environment that felt so overwhelming. I remember finding Nikita’s poem and crying as I read it, because it was just so timely, so… everything that I was feeling in that moment. Months later, when we were working out what to name the new project, we kept coming back to one particular line in this poem: “Kindness is the greatest endangered thing.” It just stuck with us, that was it. Kindness has been our uniting theme since the start and it’s something we only hope the world will see more of in the years to come. We’re so grateful to Nikita for giving us permission to use the line, we can’t imagine anything else more fitting for this new adventure.”

Their debut EP And You, And Me was initially recorded in the village of Tideswell, while the duo were staying at a friend’s cottage. Their first single Green, Blue features a chorus of local morning birds on the recording. What initially began as a much needed period of reflective solitude, soon evolved, as the world changed, into a beautiful sharing of human connection, even across oceans in a time when travel was prohibited.

“Everything changed at the start of last year. We had spent almost two years with this project at that point,” says Taylor. “We had only just begun recording and had barely shown it to anyone. We wanted to take it slow, to give it the time to be able to exist outside of expectations and deadlines. To be whatever it needed to be and evolve at it’s own pace. We had just played our first gig with the new songs and then the whole world shut down. I think everyone realised in those following months how important human connection, family and friends were. We, initially, had imagined the EP quite stripped back, our two voices and a guitar, but in those following months of global solitude, we realised we wanted this project to be a space where we could collaborate with the people we love. We were lucky to get a group of our talented friends, on both sides of the Atlantic, who were up for going on a artistic journey with us.”

The pair began the next stage of recording with one of Taylor’s childhood friends, John Redgrave, at his home studio in Sheffield. They then took the EP to their friend and producer David Glover at Tesla Studios, with whom they have worked with on previous projects. Tracks were remotely recorded in Van Cleave’s former hometown of Staunton, Virginia, by Adam Parker and Todd Glidewell, with friends Jims Hinkle and Jay Austin adding bass and violin, respectively. The current collection of creatives is completed by Sheffield filmmaker Brett Chapman, who produced the music video for the band’s sophomore single Bramble Lane and will be working with the band on further visuals.

“It feels really good to be making something for the sheer sake of enjoyment again,” says Taylor. “…No pressure, no boundaries or expectations, just doing what you love with some great people and enjoying the process.”

“It’s felt like coming home, in more ways than one,” adds Van Cleave.

‘And You, And Me’ the debut EP from ‘The Greatest Endangered Thing’ is released by Ki An Projects on September 24th, 2021.