Folk Us


JEANETTE LEECH needs Bread, but is fully equipped with Love and Dreams as she wanders through the latest folk releases.


Folkies, lord bless ’em, don’t tend to have much in common with James Brown. Applications for the office of Minister Of The New Super Heavy Funk are thin on the ground. That’s why it’s a real pleasure to hear that Sweden’s Andreas Söderström, the man behind


ASS, has offered his services. The title track of Salt Marsh (Static Caravan) is circular, rhythmic acoustic funk, taking in the groove of George Clinton along with the more studied locked- groove tempo of post-rock such as Tortoise. The rest of the LP is


So now we need something succinct, and it comes in the form of a six-track 3-inch CD by THE DRIFTWOOD MANOR, Holy Ghost (Rusted Rail). Heavy buzz and hum here is offset by full, sincere mandolin and banjo; there’s some sparkling playing on this, with a


particularly strong fiddle. It’s a welcoming album but thankfully without an eager-to-please desperation. ‘I Would Lose You Still’ is the standout track for me, and it shows off this CD’s accessibility without compromising on the originality.


very pleasant overall, even if not as skilful or moving as the mighty Philadelphians. However, it’s when The Rowan Amber Mill try something a bit more adventurous that they properly stand out. Thus ‘The Hunter’, with its pared-back feel, is by far the best track


here. It’s almost like an aria with the barely-understandable lyrics sung tautly and trippily by Sharon Eastwood. More such as this – clanking against the edges of expectation rather than sticking to the safer routes – would be very welcome. There’s ample proof that they can do it.


Hmm... there are lots of albums around this issue that I quite like but which just seem lacking in a certain pizzazz somewhere. The same goes for The Creatures In The Garden Of Lady Walton (Brassland) by CLOGS. It’s a song cycle about the titular garden – a real


place, in Italy.Although, with its strings and considered gentleness, it’s certainly a unique album – few other folk-affiliated records use the influence of classical music to such an intelligent degree – it still seems somewhat hesitant in its approach. Nevertheless, the vocals of Shara Worden are absolutely exquisite (Sufjan Stevens also pops up on the final track) and I enjoyed grappling with the very opaque lyrics. I’m sounding like a broken record now, I know, but just a bit more daring and wildness is what’s needed.


So we go to someone with plenty of that unruliness: MARIANNE NOWOTTNY. Divine Cantos (Abaton Book) is six excerpts from Dante’s The Divine Comedy set to strange keyboards, harmonium and dulcimer. Nowottny is one of the folk avant-


garde’s best-kept secrets and her vocals, which can alienate and inspire at the same time, are a considerable weapon. She drives us through hell, purgatory and paradise, marking each leg of the journey with hedonistic abandon and celestial grace. I like this album a great deal: it’s her best since ’03’s Illusions Of The Sun.


Marianne Nowottny: divine.


slower to reveal its stamen – the other tracks being considered, instrumental mood pieces – but no less engaging in the final analysis. It’s a real joy when, after three or four listens, the album really flowers as a whole. The reference points are Six Organs Of Admittance, The American Primitive masters and even sometimes Mellow Candle (albeit if they were heard through a cave). Free your mind and your Ass will follow.


I looked at the back of SJOFN’s album Secret (Parallax Sounds) and sighed at the sight of 17 tracks. Unless you’re Devendra Banhart making a record by singing snippets down a telephone line in 2002, it’s hard to pull off that number of songs on a


modern folk album. Sjofn just about proves me wrong. Her songs are short, cute and sweet, she has a really charismatic voice and uses a wide range of instruments including the lesser- spotted clarinet and a wash tub bass. There’s a nice contrast between direct folk affection and a more down home clappy style, both with a splintered roughness. I love the lo-fi twist of ‘Married People’ too. Still, my interest did wane a little by the end; I have a nagging feeling that if Sjofn had just been a little more ruthless with her editing Secret could have been a real gem.


Five traditional tracks, interestingly arranged and lovingly rendered, come courtesy of FOL-DE-ROSE on her self- titled EP (Rose Window). The author of the project, Katie Rose, is interested in folk song as performance, therapy and ritual and these aspects all come through on


her EP, from the train sound effects on ‘In The Pines’ to the serenity of ‘Barbra’. This is one for the more tranquil moments of the summer.


The resurgent Holyground label – originally set up in 1967 – has put out the Progressions Series Sampler (Holyground) showcasing their more recent wares. There’s plenty of singer- songwriter worthiness here, with Nic Chapman the most distinctive, and the


analogue sounds are accomplished and worthy of a hat tip. However, in my opinion, it’s not especially progressive. Don’t expect Comus!


THE ROWAN AMBER MILL and their album Heartwood (Miller Sounds) come across like a British version of first album-era Espers – all melodious vocals, earthy splendour and quiet grace. It’s


Finally out on CD is my favourite album of ’09, STONE BREATH’s The Shepherdess And The Bone- White Bird (Dark Holler/Hand Eye). Formerly vinyl-only, this is far more than just a straight reissue. For a start, there’s a whole bonus album, Virgo, Mater, Domina, which is a new set of songs by THE FOREST BEGGARS. This is the more overtly devotional wing of Stone Breath and the music – beautifully anguished and fervent hymns – is a reverse to the unnerving, blood-


spattered and graphic Shepherdess. Moreover, if you pick up the limited CD box set there’s a 5-inch record in there too along with plush, churned artwork accompanying the exceptional lyrics. This release is further proof, not that it’s needed, of Stone Breath’s position as the most revolutionary, and superlative, of all modern folk bands.


www.staticcaravan.org www.myspace.com/mountainmission www.rustedrail.com www.therosewindow.org www.millersounds.co.uk www.brassland.org www.holyground.co.uk www.abatonbookcompany.com www.darkhollerarts.com


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Photo by Mark Dagley


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