Broadly speaking, the music of Stella Kola could be labeled psychedelic folk, although the term feels limited and pedestrian when one encounters the elegant majesty of the work itself. While drinking from the same well as Shirley Collins, Fairport Convention, C.O.B., Pentangle, Anne Briggs, Bridget St. John, and the like, not for a second does it play as a retro exercise. The music wears its influences comfortably, swimming in the atmosphere of its forebearers without feeling beholden to stylistic conceits or overt reference. If you're looking for flashy hipsterism, you've stumbled into the wrong tavern. It's a dream band, impossible to place, arising from somewhere beyond the individuals responsible. Stella Kola is an entity larger than all that. A small tear in the fabric of time allowing some light from The Land of Timelessness to come dancing through. RIYL: Bridget St. John, Slapp Happy, Broadcast, C.O.B., Julie Tippetts, Myriam Gendron, Tia Blake, Julee Cruise, Blossom Dearie, Vashti Bunyan, Kevin Ayers and the Whole World.
"Robert Thomas is known for raising a wide variety of rackets inside the Sunburned Hand of the Man multi-verse. He has also shown himself to be a dab prog hand with Dalthom, his duo with Gary War. But this project -- Stella Kola -- a duet with the great Beverly Ketch (Bunwinkies, Jow Jow, Weeping Bong Band) has a sneaky genteel vibe that is new for him. Bev and Rob wrote all the material together, having decided to collaborate in the early days of the Plague. Things came together at their own pace, with lots of friends enlisted to help. These include P.G. Six, Jeremy Pisani, Wednesday Knudsen, Willie Lane, Jen Gelineau, Gary War and others. But the shape of the material was determined by the prime movers, and possesses a shocking amount of charm and beauty. Admittedly, this is often the case with Bev's endeavors, but Rob was able to get a new flow going that compliments her calm. And the results are boss. I was a bit surprised how 'pro' the arrangements are -- strings, horns and keys are employed as though this was a big budget slab. But it manages to create a certain whiff of left field early '70s major label albums that sailed under the radar. And that is a beautiful bed in which to rest. Let Stella Kola cradle your heavy head for a bit. You'll be glad you did." -Byron Coley, December 2022