Folky Friday: Will the truth ever emerge?
This week saw the release of the folk-revivalist Indigo Moss' eponymously titled debut album.
Claiming to come from South-East London, but actually shipped in directly from the early 70's the Moss family are a group not shirking away from general public's lack of enthusiasm for folk. No, they positively embrace bluegrass, skiffle and traditional tunes, demonstrating a delightful joie de vivre.They strike me as a more mature, more focused version of Sheffield's Monkey Swallows The Universe with a fistful of tunes, a great respect for Americana, and some great songs about love, loss and all the usual paradigms of folk song-crafting (including a cry of "all together now" on album closer Nature of this Town!).But take a step back from the rootsy tweeness and you'll find an album brimming with beautiful moments and passionate lyricism. No better example of this is the sultry Swimming, which brings in elements of jazz (in the wandering guitar playing) and even (to my ears) middle period R.E.M. with its heart-stirring strings and vocal inflections.It's a gorgeous track, its beginning smouldering with hidden passion and longing, but before long its sombre lyrics, uttered in a soulful voice, have painted a different picture. This is a song of a failing relationship, Hannah-Lou singing:I'm tired of finding somebody newI'm tired of being easy on youI'm tired of always knowing that what was said was untrueThe instrumentation too is excellent - beautiful guitar work threading itself in and around a constantly changing tempo that rises to meet the dying embers of this particular flame.The rest of the album brings in more upbeat elements but none that quite rival the intricacies of this track. So, sure, they have friends in high places, having been snapped up by Simon Tong's Butterfly Records and supported the Howling Bells on tour, and yes there must be other equally talented folk groups around, but credit has to be given to these guys for making an attempt to bring folk to the masses. Let's see whether they succeed or get burnt trying.Have a listen to Swimming and others on their myspace.
Claiming to come from South-East London, but actually shipped in directly from the early 70's the Moss family are a group not shirking away from general public's lack of enthusiasm for folk. No, they positively embrace bluegrass, skiffle and traditional tunes, demonstrating a delightful joie de vivre.They strike me as a more mature, more focused version of Sheffield's Monkey Swallows The Universe with a fistful of tunes, a great respect for Americana, and some great songs about love, loss and all the usual paradigms of folk song-crafting (including a cry of "all together now" on album closer Nature of this Town!).But take a step back from the rootsy tweeness and you'll find an album brimming with beautiful moments and passionate lyricism. No better example of this is the sultry Swimming, which brings in elements of jazz (in the wandering guitar playing) and even (to my ears) middle period R.E.M. with its heart-stirring strings and vocal inflections.It's a gorgeous track, its beginning smouldering with hidden passion and longing, but before long its sombre lyrics, uttered in a soulful voice, have painted a different picture. This is a song of a failing relationship, Hannah-Lou singing:I'm tired of finding somebody newI'm tired of being easy on youI'm tired of always knowing that what was said was untrueThe instrumentation too is excellent - beautiful guitar work threading itself in and around a constantly changing tempo that rises to meet the dying embers of this particular flame.The rest of the album brings in more upbeat elements but none that quite rival the intricacies of this track. So, sure, they have friends in high places, having been snapped up by Simon Tong's Butterfly Records and supported the Howling Bells on tour, and yes there must be other equally talented folk groups around, but credit has to be given to these guys for making an attempt to bring folk to the masses. Let's see whether they succeed or get burnt trying.Have a listen to Swimming and others on their myspace.
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