The official soundtrack to the COSTA Novel of the Year 2017, Reservoir 13 (Music for the Novel by Jon McGregor) was written to accompany the author's book tour throughout 2017-18 and features fellow Derbyshire instrumentalists Haiku Salut.

Reservoir 13 is a novel that starts with a 13-year old girl going missing. The story then follows life in the village for 13 years after the incident. Published by 4th Estate in 2017, it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and spawned a prequel BBC Radio 4 series The Reservoir Tapes, also soundtracked by Birkin.

Prior to the novel's completion, Jon mentioned to Richard that he would be interested in exploring Derbyshire folk songs as inspiration. Richard found one called Tip O'Derwent. Like the novel, it's about someone who goes missing in the wilds around the Upper Derwent Valley. Richard reveals:

"I found a recording of it, and it had this really eerie melody that instantly made me think of the missing girl from Jon's novel. I adapted this as her theme, and wrote all the other pieces around it. It's in every piece of music, but muted...missing, like the girl. You can't hear it, but it's influencing and inspiring everything else that happens."

Derbyshire trio Haiku Salut feature on the record, adding a delicate timbre to Birkin's chamber arrangements. Richard explains:

"I wanted the instruments to be quite ambient...not recorded to a click...and inhabiting their own little universe. I gave each member a short melody to play, and we played through the pieces in our own little worlds...sometime influencing each other, sometimes not. It was a beautiful experience hearing the music come alive in such a gentle and natural way.”

The resulting music, adorned with Birkin's string arrangements, stands on its own as a beautiful listening experience, as well as giving readers of the book a companion to and reminder of McGregor's powerful storytelling.