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(2020) Burd Ellen - Says the Never Beyond
Review:
And so it is Christmas. Here’s what Burd Ellen have done: made a brilliant set of wintersongs from all across Britain that almost hovers in the air like an eerie snowglobe of sound. It begins with two minutes of buzzing drones, bowed cymbals, violin string scrapes, and distant murmurations of birdsong, setting a stage of pure ice and pitch blackness. Debbie Armour enters singing folk revival classic ‘Please to See the King’ and when Gayle Brogan joins her in harmony, their Scottish voices mist together almost viscously. Burd Ellen was once Armour alone, a singer who has collaborated with Scottish giants Alasdair Roberts and Frankie Armstrong. She explored women’s narratives in folk song on 2018 debut album, Silver Came. Brogan brings to the mix 20 years spent making unnerving electronic music as Pefkin (her recent anthology on Bandcamp, The Crows & Gossip Among the Leaves, comes highly recommended) plus a shivering zither and synthesisers (including the fittingly named Dark Energy). Well-known songs have their lyrics highlighted in illuminating ways throughout. Coventry Carol’s tale of the “little tiny child” and Herod’s advance moves with a menacing slowness against a low, shuddering murmur. The metaphysical strangeness of the Corpus Christi Carol, revived by Jeff Buckley on 1994’s Grace, fittingly builds then distorts, before unwinding into a coda of piano and guitars that recalls Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock. Softer moments do alleviate the terror: the a cappella Sans Day Carol from Cornwall is even sweet enough to accompany a Christmas morning’s buck’s fizz. Keep the convulsing black metal intro to Tàladh Chriosda (Christ’s Lullaby) for setting your brandy pudding alight, however.
Tracklist:
01 - Please to See the King
02 - Coventry Carol
03 - Wexford Carol
04 - Cutty Wren
05 - Hela'r Dryw Bach
06 - Corpus Christi Carol
07 - Sans Day Carol
08 - Taladh Chriosda
Media Report:
Genre: alternative folk, british folk
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits |
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