Songs of Green Pheasant
Songs of Green Pheasant
/fat cat; 2005/

 

 

 

 

 www.fat-cat.co.uk

Folk is the new garage. Or the new post punk, I don't know. Folk records keep on coming my way, and I won't complain, while these records are nice. Songs of Green Pheasant sounds barer than Amandine's This Is Where Our Hearts Collide and less polished than Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering, both out on the same label. This debut album is filled with the dark spaces in between popular 60s folk hits. Nothing cheer-inducing, no smiles, no flowers here. It sounds like Neil Young and Nick Drake's darkest pieces, with a bit of Nico here and there. The whole record is drenched in reverb, like Castanets' awesome Cathedral. But here, unlike the Castanets record, the music doesn't feel anchored in reality : timeless, traditional folklore is explored and you may feel like you're listening to music recorded in a church by wicked monks. Songs of Green Pheasant provide the listener with an original approach to folk music, which, even though not revolutionary, is dark and obtuse enough to be quite interesting and definitely worth experiencing.

-barbara h

/october 2005/