Tag: folk rock

Courting Ghosts Debut Album: Falling My Friend

Images used with kind permission of Pacific Curd Photography

West Wilts and Somerset folk-rock collective Courting Ghosts are about to release their debut album, Falling my Friend in June…..

If the name Courting Ghosts conveys something twisted and gothic, the band name may be a smidgen deceiving to their style. Subjective though, what’s in a name; if I was courting a ghost I’d imagine she’d be the scariest, like The Lady in White, mysteriously motionless with unkempt hair over her face; creepy stuff like that. Whereas if Lindisfarne were courting a ghost it’d likely be Casper!

I’m thinking there’s more Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze shenanigans going on here than either The lady in White or the friendly ghost, because, whilst Lindisfarne can be rather quirky seventies, yet are undeniably an accolade to UK folk-rock, Courting Ghost’s Falling my Friend is earnest and steadfast, feelgood folk integrity; no messing about. The narrative is amorous and the ambience refreshingly strolling along the sunny side of the street. Your pottery is going to be smooth listening to this at the wheel, Demi!

I’m getting more the romanticism of Springsteen, the breeze of Tom Petty, and the drift of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Still, the Americana component is subtle at best, in sound the balance tips largely on the UK folk scene, particularly of their roots in the West Country. So let’s lob in the honesty of Hothouse Flowers too, for good measure. It’s a gentle flow rather than all twangy banjos and knee-slapping, for sure.

Image: Pacific Curd Photography

Frontman and guitarist Chris Hoar and Marcel Rose on acoustic guitar hail from Trowbridge, and they make the original duo. The five-piece was formed a little under two years ago by networking via open mics. Dave Turner on keys and backing vocals from Frome, bassist Andy Maggs from Bath. Drummer Tim Watts, while skiving off the photoshoot, provides the Devizes connection. Combined it’s a force of professionalism. Additions to the line-up includes Holly Carter, a marvel on the peddle steel, and a rather splendid guest vocalist who will be revealed shortly!

Courting Ghosts are not trying to bedazzle you with daring experimentation or cryptic wordplay, it’s an elementary formula. This is walking back to your festival tent after a mellowed afternoon music. It’s unassuming, tranquil. It’s dew on the grass precipitating under a spring sunrise. 

They kick it off with the luxuriate title track, nine others succeed and follow suit. Every Time, the third song in, raises the bar with a particularly beguiling hook. Following this Close my Eyes ups the sentimental notch a level. A ballad with delicate keys, vocally harmonised to perfection with the fantastic Lorna, one half of the duo Fly Yeti Fly.

Image: Pacific Curd Photography

She’s Alright, some eight tunes along this beautiful journey is as uptempo as it gets, at least it rolls on the strings. It’s an unspecified ode to that one person who will always cheer you up. Sentiments abound is a running theme, as it cools to a close with an air of feelgood ambience. 

If you catch them gigging, the CD will be available to buy in June, I suggest you treat yourself and your drive home through our rolling downs will be complemented with an apt soundtrack. Courting Ghosts are going to drop a track per month on Spotify starting from the end of May, with the whole album becoming available for streaming planned for September or October. Keep up-to-date on this album by checking the band’s socials, Facebook. Instagram. 

Trending…..

Loading…

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

The Folkadelica of a Two Man Travelling Medicine Show

Contemporary folk rock in the UK tends to come in three formats which never the twain shall meet, usually. Firstly you’ve got your acoustic goodness with melancholic tales of woe and thoughtful romantic prose. It’s more often than not gentle, quirky and despite being either optimistic or pessimistic themed, it’s generally sprinkled with daisy chains and barefoot bearded bumpkins. 

The second sort is the all-out frenzied banjo plucking, fiddler frolicking, footstompin’ no bars held scrumpy and western or Celtic fashion, which drags you on to a dusty dancefloor kicking and screaming, but rarely offers intelligent content or narrative. And third, Americana, the idea someone from Chipping Norton can get away with yodelling songs about boxcars and dustbowls while donning a Stetson hat in Waitrose.

If you’ve ever desired something in the middle, something which resets the balance, or cherrypicks the best elements of all and fuses them with a flow so neat it’s like they never parted company at all, you’ve come to the right place. Recorded and mixed entirely in a dark Dorset barn, Folkadelica is the irresistible new eleven strong tuned album from those rootsy alchemists the Two Man Travelling Medicine Show, and it’s released tomorrow (Friday 10th November) on Hangover Hill Records; hold on to my bowler hat, there’s a good fellow…

This is a lukewarm tea in a chipped floral mug, resting on a log near a campfire kinda album, it’s probably got an earthy taste but it’ll sure bring you round. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, never attempts to patronise, but in this it offers intelligent and crafted wordplay, against a backdrop of wonderfully entwined banjo string snapping folk, and twisted with a dash of psychedelia. Largely upbeat even when the chips are down in its narrative, it’s carefree danceable but should you cross examine the subjects, there’s plenty of colourful and intriguing characters played out here.

If it kicks off decidedly punky folk with a banger called the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the in-your-face element doesn’t linger quite so abruptly, musically, yet the album contains a punkish ethos, least its fury, in the narrative throughout. This one is to check you’re awake.

Second tune in is the single which attracted me to it, a self-confessed “apathetic middle England rubbish protest song,” called I’m so Angry I Could Vote. The tongue-in-cheek singalong lambasting the bizarre notion recent government inactions might cause even abstenters to vote relies on the reactionless middle classes creating an anthem, and for the sheer ludicrousy that might happen is its amusing charm. You realise from the off your satirical preferences are in reliable hands, and Folkadelica will take no prisoners.

There’s a glass-half-empty suspiciously biographical tale of a failed musician’s flopped feelings of grandeur called A Lot of People Hate Me, it amuses more than enough. You will find at least one observation you identify with here if not this one. Talk is Cheap is a downtempo gem of Pink Floyd-esque sound with a Positively 4th Street sentiment, amidst uptempo tracks besides the nature of their themes. Beguilingly melancholic and dejectedly romantic in subject are few tunes here, but the middle trio, Stand by the Road, King with No Throne and Starting Again, particularly stand out for broody prose.   

Fatalistic raver inspired Smokescreen borders bluegrass and we’re back to footstomping. Repeat is perhaps the most engaging and reflective, if we all have a betraying friend who hit the bottle. Then it’s a vaudeville fashioned poverty commentary, a masterpiece of catchiness on shoplifting. It’s at this conjunction close to the finale, you consider just how idiosyncratically beautiful this trip has been, like returning home from an offbeat holiday.

Well, you have been trekking with a Two Man Travelling Medicine Show, what did you expect?! The conclusion to this makes you feel like you’ve been sitting on that log by the campfire, with your chipped mug, taking heed of this kooky duo’s words, their tales of grief, betrayal, and their slants on the state of politics, or the worth of shoplifting, all warped neatly in sublimely delivered carny DIY ether. Do check it out or continue to live your life influenced by the idiots this album lambasts so eloquently, passionately and satirically; either way, this doesn’t persuade you, merely angles your cuppa in a certain direction, and for that alone, I love it.

Folkadelica: Available digitally everywhere on Friday. Pre-save Spotify.  

Two Man Travelling Medicine Show Website . Facebook . Instagram . YouTube

Trending……

Talk in Code are All In for New Single

Swindon indie pop virtuosos Talk in Code released their brand new single, All In, Yesterday, via Regent Street Records. And We. Love. Talk in Code…

Dylan Smith: Cruel to be Kind

Yeah, the title of Dylan’s debut album, Cruel to be Kind could be an insight into how we conduct our reviews, but being as I missed him yet again when he came to the Southgate, I should really be kind to be kind, asides, there’s nothing in this album to be cruel about….

My excuse was festival season, I was invited to The Devizes Scooter Rally the weekend his name was chalked upon the Gate’s blackboard. Looking for a skinhead friend of mine there proved impossible amidst a sea of skinheads! Without this turning pythonesque, dwelling on Dylan’s fantastic beard, the likes of which I’d have spotted him straight away with, should he have been there, allow me this brief Arthur Twosheds Jackson moment, and we’ll digress onto his music!

While listening I’m contemplating his very name suggests he comes from a musical family, or fans of the Magic Roundabout at the very least. It could be duly noted Dylan these days may well be a name given by parents with no clue to the legendary folk singer, a Dylan the age of Dylan Smith would suggest otherwise. This I haven’t asked him about, I’m making an assumption here, because this album is so eclectic, yet from whichever angle a track off it comes at you, it’s proficiently delivered with the seemingly ease to justify the notion Dylan Smith was born for this.

The title track opens this fifteen track musical marathon. It’s the nice, smooth and breezy folk-rock I was expecting, it’s Tom Petty, vocally, and with a similar hook. However the one time I did meet Dylan, which was when he was backing Becky Lawrence on guitar at the Female of the Species annual fundraiser in Seend, and I asked him to summarise his sound, he was rather generalised and heterogeneous about pigeonholing it. The intro of the second tune, Play the Game, was unexpected, until I recalled that conversation. I mean, through to its conclusion it holds a strong wailing guitar riff, but it kicks in as if I’m about to listen to Orbital, or some other nineties downtempo slice of electronica. It is at this conjunction you accept Cruel to be Kind is going to be a ride through musical influences.

Dylan with Becky Lawrence at the Female of the Species Halloween Party in Seend!

Then, we’re back into rock citing Nashville country by the third tune, with a drifting sound and a reminiscing theme. If you were a nipper in 1983, as is its title, you’ll nod, and perhaps think the witty cultural references are wicked (in the eighties ironic slang usage of the term!) younger listeners may need Google, but I’d predict the effect remains the same; this tune celebrates the diversity Of Dylan’s work, and his ability to apply ruminative narrative.

By now you’re immersed in Dylan’s world, and willing to accept whatever he deems appropriate to throw at you. Check You Out, is quirky and the tad saucy of ZZ Top in content, followed by a beautiful ballad, or two, but we’re only halfway through and anything could happen. Memory Lane again focuses on retrospective reminiscences, with a bouncy acoustic number, I’m awash thinking of classic influences, yeah, Dylan and Cash, but the experimental side of the Beatles and Beach Boys too, and this one finishes on a whistle akin to Otis sitting on the dock of the bay. 

In conclusion to citing influences, a Nils Lofgren of Trowbridge, and as a guitar teacher too I guess Dylan needs to be diverse, perhaps, but there’s so much going on here, stop the press; nine tunes in and Living Fantasy is funky electronica pop! Then whoa, bluegrass supersedes, and we’re back in Dylan’s comfort zone, this Tom Petty folk-rock rings throughout, but there’s no accounting where he’ll go next. A man after my own heart, I feel, as I couldn’t do desert island discs, couldn’t bear to reduce myself to a few genres, let alone a few albums!

But there’s thoughtful prose, genius writing, and adroit guitar work throughout this musical melting pot, even if Dylan can’t decide on moderating to a subgenre; his style is unique and detectable from whatever pigeonhole you care to plonk a particular tune into. The album drifts along in similar fashion to the close, it’s beguiling, yet as there’s a lot of it, you begin to take Dylan’s talent for granted, until it’s over. There is a pocket of variation when Lucie Reyonds vocals on a song called Something to Share. Now, if this one doesn’t standalone to prove the wealth of Dylan’s virtuosity in composure and writing, nothing will.

It’s wonderfully enchanting, as is the album, an interestingly diverse treasure you’ll return to and discover more to, like gags in an Airplane movie! Now who’s taking us back to 1983, and if we could, Dylan, just return to your fantastic beard for a moment?!

For more info on Dylan Smith and to buy the album, see Dylan’s Website HERE

Trending….