Category: Folk Rock

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Album/EP Reviews Energetic Fairy Tale Folk Music Folk Rock Sci-Fi

Joshua Burnell – Glass Knight – Review – 14/08/23

“A dizzying amount of craft, musical influences and layers of sonic excellence that nevertheless has an accessible shine that musical afficionados, local Dungeon Masters, and your Nan, are all going to equally enjoy”

We remember Joshua Burnell on a hot sunny day, a few years ago during the height of the Beverley Folk Festival. Burnell himself, and his band, were all there playing away as the sun blazed. Burnell was sliding all over the place over the keys, the dragon kite above his head seemed to come alive and it was all an explosive, colourful foray into the live folk scene. It was not so much that he was racing from the devil, but rather in all his efforts his gusto and enthusiasm seemed like it might have had the devil’s envy.

We sadly admit not keeping up with the development and journey in intervening years, but it is safe to say that there must be tales to be told. No longer is he the enthusiastic spirit of fighting youth, he is fact Russell Crowe in Gladiator. He knows a thing or too, and his Glass Knight, in this instance is a show of his refinement and skills. The only difference is we don’t expect Burnell to have the same sticky end that Maximus did.

For those not in the know, Joshua Burnell’s origins are a mixture of life in Haute-Savoie, Linlithgow and York. Along with his band of Nathan Greaves (electric guitar), Oliver Whitehouse (bass), Ed Simpson (drums) and Frances Sladen (backing vocals) joined with Kathleen Ord/Elizabeth Heyes-Lundie (violin), Ellen Brookes/Rhiannon Fallows (violas), and Greg Morton/Ele Leckie (cellos); we have an expansive collective that is not just large in size, but in range.

After all, Burnell has been described as having the sound and influences of Bob Dylan, The War on Drugs, Arcade Fire, Peter Gabriel and others combined with the sound of synth, art rock, folk roots, psychedelia and glam. They do feel like their own beast though, performing this mix of fantasy and folk with gusto. So how did we find “The Glass Knight”?

In “Where Planets Collide” the guitar wails as he declares, “I can’t help but feel that nothing is real anymore”. The track arrives as if on the thundering of approaching space hooves. Burnell’s opener is a bruiser; it’s layers of guitar swell and the drums spell a fatal inevitability and excitement over it’s space-fantasy themings. The purpose of the track is almost to show you how much Burnell has learned, as “Where Planets Collide” is a bit like making a special edition of the “Into the Green” album. Where “Into the Green” is Gandalf the Grey holding back the Balrog in Moria, “Glass Knight” is where Gandalf returns brandishing a ray gun and kicking ass. Energetic and confident, it is as good a translation of Burnell’s on-stage energy into a physical medium as is possible.

“Looking Glass” is truly delightful too. Burnell’s is having a whirlwind of a time with this rendition of a romance in the ilk of the original Snow White story with the references to “the fairest of them all”, “poisoned apples” and loads more. We decidedly have a soft spot for old fairytales, and this one kicks with its stirring piano, barking guitar and spellbinding singing voice. Burnell’s spin on Snow White adds to the modern record of great fable representation, be it American McGee’s Alice in a twisted, psychotic vengeance, the great Fables comic series or Yulia Stepanova’s junkie pimp Snow White in Rammstein’s “Sonne”. The difference is that is a brighter take than this other media, with a sound akin to a favourite artist of ours, Princess Chelsea. We would love to keep this discussion on the train track of folk music but let us (like Burnell) come close to coming off the rails here as we take a second to appreciate a track at the intersection of the old and new and how wonderfully it’s rock groove has been put together.

A confident retro entry on the disc is Burnell’s “Lucy”. We think that Burnell is a witch with this track due to the abundant cauldron of influences here. He sounds a lot like Bob Dylan with dashes of Elton John, William Shatner and the Beatles all the while that the song builds to an electric guitar solo (by Nathan Greaves) which could be the finer moments of Queen. Special kudos go to the mixing on this loveable “biography of a rock star” which brings Frances Sladen’s backing vocals to the sky with it’s interesting and soulful inclusion. It truly is a song that is a vibe encapsulated, as if Glam Rock music had just hatched from a reanimated dinosaur egg and thinks you are it’s mother. Bouncy and radiant this is a good track.

Another couple of great tracks to mention are “Played my Part”, a song that looks at climate change and personal responsibility with Burnell’s voice riding high in the mix and “Glass Knight”. “Played my Part” is an energetic and lively number that gets the feels going with Burnell’s directness of voice and some of the instrumental soundscapes that emerge throughout. Billed as a prequel to a previous track called, “Look at Us Now”, it is an interesting eye that is cast to a despondent future when the Earth might not be such a clean place. When we come to “Glass Knight” we realise it is the kind of subject matter that gets folklorists out of bed in the morning. It retells an old Saffron Walden story about a night in glass armour who goes to save the villagers from the stare of a “basilisk” (that can turn people to stone). Some excellent retro chord progressions and a guitar pedal effect clearly chosen for it’s futuristic haunting (a la Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds) take us along to a new grim ending when the deed is done. It seems to hint at any number of things that might lead to a lack of thought be it social media, the news, youth culture; you pick it. A great rock centrepiece to hang the album on in concept and sound.

This album is exceptional. Burnell wears his influences on his sleeves, but these sleeves are actually bracers that are so powerful he can deflect arrows with them. Nerdy but not childish it is a harkening to a musical universe which is part fantasy and sci-fi, fairytale and modernity, and rarely do we find something so surprisingly aligned with a large number of our interests yet more than successful in execution, scope and creativity. Astonishingly put together and conceived there is a lot we haven’t said, so we recommend that you go out and buy this one, Burnell’s album bristles with the aura of a disc that should win awards this year.

The Glass Knight was launched at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention on August 11th, and is available from all good stockists, though we often encourage to purchase from the artist themselves. Joshua Burnell’s store is here.

There are several tour dates coming up, check out the website here for more information.

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Animal Duo Folk Music Folk Rock Gig Modern Arrangement PR Singer-Songwriter

Carol Hodge and Birds & Beasts – 30 October 2021, Wainsgate Chapel, Hebden Bridge

Being (in probability), the most remote venue we have been to, outside of a music festival, we find the Wainsgate Chapel on the outskirts of Hebden Bridge really hits us in the face with it’s beautiful setting and stunning rural Yorkshire views. It is also our first post lockdown music gig in person (and our two year old daughter’s first ever gig) so there are equal parts of nervous expectation and blessed relief all round to seeing live music again. Some infant distractions aside, we are able to witness two beautifully performed 45 minute sets that blended into the old wooden eaves of the chapel in a delightful interplay of new and old.

This joyous embrace of old and new is witnessed in the first act. Carol Hodge sings and walks down from the church pulpit like navigating a smoke-filled staircase in a classy jazz bar. Known as the seven fingered songwriter, Carol Hodges plays a set with a voice and songs full of passion and delightful inner turmoil. Performing a set of songs that resonate with the theme of moving on from difficult situations, we find these insights are a perfect match for the beautiful, honest and from the heart lyrics. A singer-songwriter with several accolades, she has in recent months released her third album, “The Crippling Space Between”. 

Stand out numbers include,  “Fallibility”, a great addition to the set as one of those painfully honest Dear John letters in song form. Slightly less thrashing than the recorded version, it seeps an almost early 90s girl group earnestness (before it got swallowed up by “girl power”) that clatters with the sounds of soft metal and heavy rock. Hodge also impresses with, “Along for the Ride”, the wistful and optimistic piano-led track that uses cool pitch changes and chords that navigate a topic that weave between anger and acceptance like a loom weaving a Queen Band tea-towel. Distinctly musical and mildly dramatic, it would not be out of place in a stage musical involving motor-bikes and a rite of passage between being young and care-free (yeah!) to  a suburban life with lots of responsibilities (boo!).

Our favourite number that appears is “Curtain to Fall” which is an ode to everyone involved with the music industry whose work was affected by the lockdown. Naturally topical at present, it reminds us that nothing, not even Covid, can stop the music industry. Dwelling in the psychological gap left by musicians when their performance space is pulled from them; this could be a powerful addition to any musician’s playlist in their first post-lockdown gigs. With the hallmarks of that signature singer-songwriter number, it’s sadness and depth of conviction is a lens on this time and space; and however sad it makes us feel, we love it.

After the second break, we then return with the Birds & Beasts.

We will confess to already being massive fans of Birds & Beasts.  We first saw them perform whilst I was pregnant with my daughter, at another famous Hebden Bridge venue, so I am  excited for this follow up act. For those not in the know, “Birds and Beasts” are a Huddersfield-based folk-rock duo who write with animals in mind. The songs go beyond just animal inspiration though; they are interesting in that they are incredibly close to the lives of the beasts around and often the songs hold a mirror up between these and the human lives that are listening.

Here at Hebden Bridge they harken to the darker corners of the church with their presence. Anna and Leo’s set focuses on their more acoustic first album rather than the current hot property that is their second album “Kozmik Disko” that launched the previous weekend. It all works well.

The Birds and Beasts entertain with a collection of songs that brim over with that joyful 60s and 70s Summer vibe where the folk sounds call to the trees, the beaches and those vibrant places in the sun. There is a lot to like here including “Time Stands Still”, a song about a murder of crows lamenting the death of an elder. It is a song guaranteed to move anyone who has recently lost a loved one, it certainly hit a personal, moving chord with ourselves. The song features Anna beautifully playing a 22 string Irish harp with a chilling melancholy (which sadly had to be put away afterwards due to the cold temperature) . 

There are some other dreamlike numbers here such as “I May Fly”, a song not from their albums. It is a short, sweet and punchy song about what the mayfly can achieve in the small lifespan that it has. Like their other songs, this is an apt metaphor to our human lives and our own potential. It was so short that it made Blur’s Song 2 feel like a Greek epic in length. The song culminated in some excellent guitar playing by Leo. 

 “Medusa”  with it’s short, upbeat and catchy lines gives a hint of their new material to come (is it too early to get excited for a third album?); and “In The End” is an ode to being able to be with your loved ones again in the near future. In subject, it is about red deers in Ann’s homeland of Germany with the feeling that it equally applies to both the experiences of families divided by the Berlin wall, and the recent Covid lockdown that inspired it. It is performed with uplifting passion and a bright hope for the future, like many of their songs.

Leaving the gig feeling uplifted by a beautiful couple of hours of live music to get us through the drive home, we can’t wait to return to the venue for its next set of gigs in the new year. After all, in Carol Hodge’s words, “we will never be ready for the curtain to fall.”

For more information about Carol Hodge see her webpage here, and read about Birds & Beasts here.

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Acoustic Album/EP Reviews Animal Duo Energetic Folk Music Folk Pop Folk Rock Folk Stories Nature Folk No Covers

Birds and Beasts – “Kozmik Disko” review

Like the thunderous hooves of an approaching stampede, Birds and Beasts’ second album is a groove-filled, thumping and purposeful sophomore album which puts it’s classic rock expertise to very good use.

Album Launch Date: 23/10/21

If you have been living in a cave for the past few years, then chances are, (without you realising) you have had a song or two written about you by a band  from the sunny uplands of West Yorkshire. This will not be due to your lack of up-to-date news about youth slang, or your dislike of music post 1982, but it might be because you are a bear. Let us explain.

The Huddersfield-based band “Birds and Beasts” are the duo of Anna and Leo Brazil who had an epiphany about nature and our relationship with it. By looking at the behaviour and lives of animals, they combine the daily struggles of being an ant (for example) with imagery and situations we recognise as part of being human too. This natural communion has served them well on their previous offering, “Entwined” and now, after returning from that shady glen, their second album is out called “Kozmik Disko”. 

There is a temptation for us of a certain age (or with children) to have apocalyptic visions of a rave style “Baa Baa Black Ship” or a Hard House version of “Nellie the Elephant” while a DJ plays sped-up samples from a BBC Wildlife documentary (I am almost certain that second track exists and I have danced to it). Thankfully, nothing could be further from the truth as “Birds and Beast” carefully knit a strikingly sharp cardigan which has shades of commentary, wry humour and great sounds, as a well-constructed work that does not take short cuts. It’s mastering at Abbey Road Studios have put a real magnetic luster on the already fine contents.  

Take track 4 “The Bloat”, for example. Here is a song about warring hippos in direct confrontation of a watering hole. A watery layer of classic rock, some chunky riffs and jazz undertones the scene plays out like one of those old film brawls with flailing arms and accusations calling out over the top. Think of the Barn Fight from “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” but instead taking place in a 1970s Discotek. The vocals compliment each other well, there is a little kick of a pace and the song is an example, as many are on the album, of the artists’ versatility. Much like the Cape Buffalo, a thoughtful exploration of one’s partnership can suddenly turn, the track snakes in one direction and then finds a new emotion and beat, Before you know it you have been a lead in to a music genre that has been skillfully smuggled and blended in.

“The Current” tells of a shark and it’s electrical impulses that lead it to food, friends and family. Like the strong guitars of Heart’s “Barracuda” (also another shark, of course), the song has a strong beating heart where the two guitar tracks interact which pushes it on. Clean guitars throughout and a nicely light drum compliment the upbeat glow of the singers’ voices. It warms the hands and feet like a gentle, coal fire. A fine example of classic rock, “The Current” takes a concise approach to describing the creature as it feels around the busy waters much like the electric anticipation of a live concert. 

“The Day I was Born” is even more radiant describing the sweeter side of love alongside the intoxicating role of the honey bee. More than ready to jump into a soft shoe shuffle, the track is full of platitudes such as, “I am yours, body and soul”. The honey bee here is chosen from birth to “marry” the Queen bee, and the human subject comparatively is more than smitten and in love. The sense of all life being preordained and the subject being strongly carried by the waves of fate presides through the number. While we listen there are the bouncy sensibilities of 60s boy bands powdered with the pollen of 80s new wave and rock as those awesome brief synth interludes put their head over the parapets. Colourful and joyous, the track grabs you like a rainbow bulldog clip and refuses to let go. Wherever Birds and Beasts travel through or end up at with their songs there are some extremely catchy segments and turns of phrase that indicate some well-placed confidence in the songwriting department.

The joy of the album is that there are obvious and easy choices taken here, the songs are written well enough to take a pummeling even by an individual with no knowledge of the natural world because the human factor is equally recognisable and celebrated alongside. For every eloping couple there is the song, “Wolfpack” about two wolves leaving the pack to start a new life; for every hero there is “Keep Walking” the ant who sacrifices communication and closeness with the rest of the hive in order to save them; and if that’s not analogous enough we get “Deep Down”, a scorpion’s tireless search to find a mate. True, there is a lot about love here, but not once do you have to sit down to dull the nausea. There is all sorts of love: obsessive love, romantic love, love through duty and the songwriters give each a proper examination in the light of their watchful eyes. It helps that everything from the album cover artwork (designed by the band), to the off-beat, bright, DIY style to the music videos add oodles of charm; no scrap that, noodles of charm all hugging together in an instant ramen cup.

One of our favourites from the album has to be “Silver Moon Array” where a hedgehog awakes a little early (mid)  hibernation and does not recognise the world he has stepped into. Incredibly atmospheric, you feel a shiver as the snow comes and the hedgehog’s vision of stretches of grass is replaced by concrete. The duos’ vocals dance together with a good harmony with Anna taking the lead adding a great sadness underneath the jangly melody and tinged with an almost Caribbean keyboard backing track. The accompanying video (see below) just adds to the scene and tugs the heart chords.       

In case you hadn’t guessed, we strongly recommend “Birds and Beasts”. Their new album is a tight work that is informed by, but also extremely generous with it’s genre influences. It is an original series of tracks that pays its respects to animals without dressing them up in top hats and dinner jackets. Evocative and confident, the “Birds and Beasts” second album is an essential purchase for those with a hankering for unabashedly classic rock with an intriguing central premise that goes a long, long way.

Birds and the Beasts are launching their album tour, starting at the Laurence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield (supported by Dan Healey) on 23rd October, and then are going outward to other great venues, check out the details here.


The album is available from all good stockists, we recommend you purchase from the band directly here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVx_t-3DAGo
Categories
Album/EP Reviews British Energetic Folk Music Folk Rock Modern Arrangement Political Protest Folk

Merry Hell – Emergency Lullabies (review)

Exuberant and rousing with a few inspired sentimental stops, Merry Hell still have a lot to say with their sixth album. 

RELEASED NOVEMBER 2020

What can we say of Merry Hell? They are a band often seen on the live circuit with an impressive turnaround of albums (this is their sixth studio outing); you could believe they are the folk world’s equivalent of oxen in a Renaissance painting with their ubiquity, whilst looking incredibly cheerful in their toils. Having listened to their latest offering “Emergency Lullabies” it is safe to say that Merry Hell continue to skillfully and happily pull the yoke of folk rock over our current fertile music scene and show us exactly how they continue to be seen and heard in all quarters.

Consisting of Virginia Kettle (vocals), John Kettle (guitar), Bob Kettle (mandolin), Andrew Kettle (vocals), Lee Goulding (keyboard), Nick Davies (bassist), Neil McCartney (fiddle) and Andy Jones (drummer); Merry Hell have forged a high path in the folk scene through their lack of pretentiousness, an iron-solid bit of songwriting and a kind of national concern and warm embrace contained in their music. The key to their success is surely that their albums are of very subjects that appeal across the political spectrum as, when all is said and done, they don’t try to score political points they just look for the good in people and society through hope, charity and joy. Once this is all mixed up with a well-developed Folk/Punk energy (from their time as the Tansads) we get a loveable, people-orientated band on a mission to cheer up and rally the populace. 

Their new album is an interesting beast as it seems to take a two-pronged approach to entertaining and pulling at the heart-strings. It feels like an album of two dates for your prom night. The first is a cheerful, self-assured protest marcher whose presence does not require added charm (or a megaphone), the other is a downright soppy guy arriving on your doorstep drenched from rain and clutching wild daffodils, slightly broken at the head of the stalk (but he knows how to woo in Latin). This duality, much like 1968’s film “The Odd Couple”, fills the album with charm and allows the magic to happen and spread across the album. This is all well, but what of the tracks?

“Go Down Fighting” has all the hallmarks of a classic Merry Hell Song that works by painting a sombre picture that of dark days to come which “we” can all bust with determination and grit , “bring in all your doubt and all your fears, bring the consternations of your years.” The track reminds of their previous work “We Need Each Other Now” and can be seen as the bread and butter pudding of Merry Hell’s vision and voice . Fighting their war with “peace and love”, their words spin on an active pacifism that has a feeling of a “warm glow” much like fluorescent coral of the sea. Backed with a bouncy, chopping electric guitar, thumping drum and a fine tonic of voices, it is a great opener to the disc.

Another song, similar in inspiring pride but vastly different in execution is “Three Little Lions” (track 3). Virginia Kettle takes the lead on vocals here, delivering a fable-like telling on what seems like England taking on a new identity in the world. Heavy in metaphor and spinning a story of the present and future through strong national iconography we get a spell-like song that calls to all the points on a compass. Complete with epic fantasy level chanting later in the track and some nice fiddle amongst that guitar, it is a song that is asking for fur suits of armour and/or the nations of the United Kingdom combining in a kind of Braveheart style fight against a shadowy opponent. For many listeners there will be some interesting themes to pick through this particular track.

The pinnacle of this particular  theme of national pride has to be attributed to track 7, “Beyond the Call”. A song for the NHS, doctors and nurses who stand “beyond the call” is a kind of celebratory prayer prepared with relatively delicate backing instruments whose rallying power culminates with the community voices added to the song from across the UK. Collected during the lockdown (a challenge to acquire and edit I am sure), it is a rather triumphant and powerful statement of support for our nationally funded health services and the workers therein. On point still at the time of writing (March 2021) it is a big thank you, and almost certainly the defining moment on this album for many. 

This lighter, supportive side of Merry Hell then turns into a kind of stylised classic sentimentalism at different points within the album which give it a wider appeal. Of course being a little sentimental does not make the subject of “Violet” a wallflower by any means,  but this “beautiful recluse” of a song is lined with clever small rhymes, and the track skips like a cheerful grasshopper moving from blade to blade, beat to beat. It is a song celebrating the outspoken, self-assured woman in a vaudeville turn you would expect instead to be about an eccentric gentleman with a penchant for colourful waistcoats, but is more the better for not being. As you listen through several gamboling and witty lyrics later, you feel like you’ve dropped off the suitcases to your room, arrived at the hotel pool bar with a cool mojito in hand and have the moment of peaceful bliss as you take in your surroundings. The yesteryear swagger and nostalgia combined with these combinations of words reveals another part of Merry Hell’s success; they know how to have a jolly laugh with themselves. 

Continuing on this theme we also get “Handsome Sally” and “Younger Than You Were”. We have to say, we are rather partial to these sweeter numbers on this album and are glad for their inclusion. “Handsome Sally” excels in that everything has been dialled back just a little bit. Slightly less flashy and big band,  slightly less bombastic it is the quiet, affecting advice from a lifelong friend to you in your time of need. The guitar leads with a sparser strum, a gentle violin and a drum hiding behind the curtain. It feels like the kind of song that would be shuffling around the top of the charts at Christmas time in the 90s, the familiar solidness of it all burns like a pleasing Boxing |Day turkey curry. Andrew Kettle draws on some fine inspiration beyond his singing in this track and it is a solid contender for track of the album. 

“Younger Than You Were” is more like the rhythmic, spark on a faster, more recognisable Merry Hell track but not any less touching for it.  Guaranteed to get people on the floor during a set, and possibly a place on a folkie’s wedding reception list or engagement party (is that a thing in normal times?) Sounding like a well-loved, well-considered couple who have known each other “since records began” it is celebratory, joyous and incredibly descriptive of the love that grows as the years go on. Many would say this in their relationship to Merry Hell’s music, and that is tricky to argue against.

So, all things considered, we get a strong mix of warmth both towards society and the individuals within from this sixth album by a modern staple of the folk scene. With an output that continues to “spark joy”, as they say, and the sense that there is a ton of ideas yet to come (in arguably “less creatively challenging times”) when the pandemic is a distant memory; we highly recommend the latest album by these rocksters. The whole package has been extremely well put together, sounding rich, deep and somehow (maybe alchemy) as if it was constructed in better circumstances outside of the pandemic. Like a swiss mechanical watch, these reliable, essential and high quality artists continue to shine and tick, providing a valuable, treasured service to many.

To buy the album, we recommend going direct to the artist on their shop here, though it is available in all good stockists.

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On the way to buying this album, also check out Merry Hell’s 1st January release “When We Meet Again”, another fine articulation of hope and reassurance for these difficult times, http://www.merryhell.co.uk/when-we-meet-again.html