A self-titled release, also featuring a song titled ‘Harp and a Monkey’. If you didn’t know Harp and a Monkey were in love with themselves that should clear matters up.
It starts off so promisingly too; that’s the worst part in retrospect. ‘The Soldier’s Song’ opens with a banjo under attack from some scabrous electro-drums. In the background, you hear the voice of Sergeant Major Richard Tobin recounting his experience at Passchendaele. What’s not to like? At this point, nothing. It’s going great; then, in come the vocals. They’re way too polished for what has come before, polite, well-enunciated, quite the opposite of the dynamic the track sets up. At first, it feels like it’s worth giving a pass, but the lyrics stall matters and you end up ensconced in trench warfare with boredom until the track ends. Sadly, it’s all downhill from there.
At two minutes into track two, ‘A Bride’s Lament’, I checked my watch, thinking most of the afternoon had gone. The track is like some crazy experiment in Einstein’s theory of relativity; time seems to bend endlessly around the fake gravitas. After that, the only moment of respite is a nice banjo run at the beginning of ‘Katy’s Twinkly Band’ which recalls a bit of the truth Pete Seeger summoned from the instrument. The song devolves quickly enough as a children’s choir enters the mix. Folktronica without inspiration or hunger. More “no thanks” than Unthanks.
Comments are closed.
Wow! Were these guys personally responsible for a death in the reviewer’s family? That’s one of the worst – most savage – reviews I have ever read of an album, and for one that has been pretty widely acclaimed elsewhere. I am all for individualism, but is this truly representative and constructive? Hmmm. Me fears not.
Wow!
“That’s one of the worst – most savage – reviews I have ever read of an album”
You really need to read more reviews 😀
I’d say that was a fairly restrained review, he even likes some bits of it. Which is more than I can say of what I’ve heard.
Glad you appreciate individualism anyway, it’d be very easy for a reviewer to go along with the herd. Especially if it’s of a band that the editor likes, or from a label who’s putting some advertising the way of the publication…
Listen : Next on:
Saturday, 23:00 on BBC Radio 2
Make it a ‘Saturday Night In’ with Steve Lamacq as he plays the most exciting new music on the scene at the moment. No doubt he’ll have unearthed a load of hits and the odd rare pick from his collection as well. Another rising talent will be telling us what motivates them in our ‘Introducing’ slot, previous people he’s tipped before they hit the big time include Laura Marling, La Roux and Florence and the Machine. This week it’s the turn of Manchester Electro-Folk-Storytellers Harp and a Monkey.