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STR 011CD
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You Are Wolf (aka Kerry Andrew) explores English and American folk music, fusing source material with leftfield pop, gentle touches of electronica and a hint of spoken-word, all melded with an array of wild vocal techniques. Debut album Hawk to the Hunting Gone (produced by MaJiKer) was made with the backing of the PRS Foundation for Music's Women Make Music scheme, which allowed Kerry to developed a set of songs based around British birds in folklore (or "birdlore," if you will) that provides the backbone of this very unique record. Six of the album's 10 tracks are adapted in part or in whole from traditional British folk songs, but You Are Wolf's approach to arranging the material is anything but traditional. That said, leading roots music magazine fRoots, ever forward-thinking, are already championing the record with a feature on Kerry (penned by wyrd-folk connoisseur Jeanette Leech), set to appear in the May 2014 issue with an album track appearing on the accompanying downloadable playlist. Standout track "Doves" fuses "When Doves Cry" by '80s US pop legend Prince with the traditional song "Turtle Dove" and features fellow folk maverick Alasdair Roberts on guest vocals, while "The Buzzard's Heart" takes the poem "Answers" by TS Eliot Prize nominee Robin Robertson and sets it to music. Kerry's music has been played on BBC Radio 6 Music by Tom Robinson, Gideon Coe and Stuart Maconie, Radio 3's Late Junction and New York's premier indie radio station WFUV. She has appeared twice on BBC Radio 3's The Verb, writing a specially-commissioned new song for the show. Kerry was chosen to be an EDFSS "Folk Rising" artist in 2010, appearing as part of a concert series curated by Sam Lee's Nest Collective at the home of the EFDSS, Cecil Sharp House. As YAW, Kerry has supported the likes of Martin Carthy, Alasdair Roberts and Laura J. Martin. Elsewhere, as Kerry Andrew, she's a composer of experimental vocal and choral music and she is also a member of adventurous a cappella trio Juice, punky/jazz crew DOLLYman, and folk-jazz sextet Metamorphic.
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STR 010CD
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Alison O'Donnell will be familiar to folk (and rare vinyl) fans the world over as founding member of Irish prog-folk band Mellow Candle, whose only album (the 1972 classic Swaddling Songs) now fetches upwards of £1000 on the rare occasions an original copy comes up for sale on eBay. Here she teams up with London-based "folk noir" outfit Firefay for an album of dark folk beauty. At the core of Firefay are Adam and Carole Bulewksi -- Carole's French heritage occasionally lending a klezmer/gypsy-folk tone to the instrumentation that sits well with Alison's naturally psych-tinged melodies, while Adam's minimal, considered production melds everything together beautifully. Across the album's 11 tracks, Firefay support O'Donnell's soaring vocals in stark fashion, providing the perfect accompaniment which is never intrusive or busy for the sake of it, always allowing Alison's crystalline tone and astonishing range (and the evocative lyrics of both Alison and Carole) to shine through. Alison made something of a resurgence during the "acid-folk revival" of the mid-2000s collaborating with Circulus, The Owl Service and later Ireland's Agitated Radio Pilot and United Bible Studies on various live and studio projects, appearing on Cathedral's The Guessing Game album, and making two wonderful records under her own name along the way (Mise Igus Ise [2006] and Hey Hey Hippy Witch [2011]). Alison's thirst for treading new and interesting musical pastures, and her youthful exuberance, belie the fact that she has a 40+ year career in the music industry behind her. Mellow Candle was formed by a 15 year-old O'Donnell in 1965 while she was still attending a convent school in Ireland, and after moving to South Africa following MC's demise, she continued with various other projects in both the folk and jazz worlds before moving back to Dublin and embarking on the most prolific period of her career -- and yet she continues to push boundaries at every opportunity. This latest release is another fine addition to her post-Mellow Candle canon and exhibits no signs at all that she's going to call it a day any time soon. File next to: Mellow Candle, The Owl Service, Circulus, Malicorne, Gabriel & Marie Yacoub.
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