Stornoway, A Band On The Run - From Genre

Fuel Up (on Later With Jools Holland)

Stornoway are a band running from genre.  Genre has it's gifts and it's hindrances.  It can help people understand your music, it can help people who like similar bands discover you, it can help critics classify you. OK well that last one may not be a plus side but lets face it people like to classify stuff.  Be it types of South American tree, umbrella or in our case new bands. 

Stornoway have recently thoroughly disowned the folk labels that were thrust upon them from everyone from the BBC to the NME.  But why have they been pigeon holed into the wave of new folk artists?  Well because their debut album Beachcomber's Windowsill is undeniably folky, that's why.  I mean come on even the album name is folk to the hilt!  The production on the album is reminiscent of the Fleet Foxes and the parallels between contemporaries like Noah & The Whale, Sons of Noel and Adrian and Mumford & Son are their in the instrumentation; featuring songs with banjo riffs a-plenty in We Are The Battery Human,  fiddles in The Coldharbour Road and delicate acoustic guitars in The End of the Movie.  Stylistically they range between folk and the more raucous tracks like Watching Birds. 

I Saw You Blink (Official Video)

So this begs the question, what is folk music?  Well what does it bring to mind for you? For some when they hear the word folk they think traditional English folk music (which personally leads me to think of Morris Dancers and Maypoles), others think 60s folk revival.  Well the dictionary definition is as follows:

Folk

• plural noun 1 (also folks) informal people in general. 2 (one’s folks) one’s family, especially one’s parents. 3 (also folk music) traditional music of unknown authorship, transmitted orally. 4 before another noun originating from the beliefs, culture, and customs of ordinary people: folk wisdom.
  — ORIGIN Old English.

So then does modern folk music fit this definition?  Can we call Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons etc Folk?  Well no because we know who wrote their songs, they did.  Is their music traditional?  Well what's traditional? (Lets not go there right now we have enough on our hands with 'Folk'!)  Are they transmitted orally?  No.  We listen to their records.  So is anyone folk?  Arguably not by definition, no.

Zorbing (on Later With Jools Holland)

But who cares?  Stornoway like Marling and the Mumfords are all influenced by folk music, among many other genres.  So we should let Stornoway off with not wanting to be stereotyped as one of these new folk bands.  And their record has something none of the other bands have on theirs.  A Kazoo (on Watching Birds).

________________________________________________

Go listen to the album The Beachcomber's Windowsill now, available on spotify here.  They're also part of my nu-folk spotify playlist, along with a load of other great bands, which can be found here.

Review: Rachael Dunn's Alpha Ghost

Rachael Dunn’s Alpha Ghost delivers an engaging brand of soulful acoustic pop, with Dunn’s vocals beautifully conveying her image-laden lyrics overlaid on Alex Dunford’s skillfully crafted soundscapes.

The album opens with the soulful ‘Out in The Storm’, the bass line drives the song forward and flourishes of glockenspiel and lead guitar bring the track to life. This is contrasted by the albums eponymous track ‘Alpha Ghost’ with its simple acoustic feel and Rachael’s delicate vocals. The Mood changes with the darker ‘Closed Door’ its powerful lyrics and double tracked vocals reminding me of Alela Diane. ‘Falling Fast’ feels intimate with the piano adding greatly to the feel of the track. The expansive ‘Hold The Light’ continues the darker feel with crunching electric guitars and a feel reminiscent of Radiohead.

The second half of the album continues with the piano led ‘Violet’, Dunn resists the urge to overload the track instead opting for a simple, honest arrangement.

An unexpected gem comes in the form of the Stones-like ‘Walking Backwards’ with its catchy chorus, foot tapping percussion and more raucous lead guitar. This is immediately contrasted by the acoustic charm of ‘Hang in Time’ and the album’s most intimate track ‘Hide’. The simple acoustic arrangement closes the album beautifully. However it does make me think that perhaps some of the other songs would have benefited from a similar stripped back sound.

Alpha Ghost is a genre-spanning, varied record with Rachael Dunn’s soaring vocals being ably supported by multi instrumentalist and producer Alex Dunford. While I think some of the tracks could have benefited from a less slick production this does not detract from the engaging album Rachael Dunn has created.


The album is available now on Amazon and iTunes

You can also read my earlier interview with Rachael where she spoke about the making of Alpha Ghost here.



This was my first review written for LiverpoolAcoustic.co.uk