This next entry is my
first review of an album released in 2020. In a year that is likely to be
remembered mostly for a global pandemic, it’s a good time to point out that 2020
was also a year when something of great beauty got made. Here it is.
Disc 1351 is…Self-Titled
Artist:
Bonny Light
Horseman
Year of Release: 2020
What’s up with the
Cover?
Long-time readers of the CD Odyssey will know I’m fond of the Giant Head Cover,
but here we have gone one step further with…the Giant Horse Head Cover.
I’m sure that Bonny Light Horseman considered other options but someone must
have made them an offer they couldn’t refuse and so…horse head.
How I Came to Know
It: I read a review of the
album and was intrigued, so checked it out.
How It Stacks Up: This is Bonny Light
Horseman’s only album so far, so it can’t really stack up with anything.
Ratings: 5 stars
Maybe of late you are finding yourself yearning
for a simpler time, or just need something sonically beautiful to soothe your
troubled soul. If so, this is the record for you.
Bonny Light Horseman is another supergroup in
the same way that “I’m With Her” is a supergroup. By that I mean that a)
they are a trio and b) ) they are deeply talented musicians and c) they are
moderately famous, but only if you already dabble in the obscure genres they come
from.
Whatever alchemy brought these three old souls
together (I could fill you in, but this is a music blog, not a biography) we
are all the better for it. The record is a collection of traditional British
folk songs. “Oh, a bunch of covers then?” you might foolishly ask. Yes, but
it is much more than that.
Bonny Light Horseman pull these songs through
the centuries with the ghosts of the ages still very much clinging,
wraith-like, to every note. The songs don’t sound timeless, so much as they
sound old. Old and powerful, like an ancient spell, or a witch’s chant.
Then they take all this lore and somehow make them
feel contemporary and relatable, without losing a single drop of their mystery.
They throw in modern elements like tenor sax and 12-string electric guitars, that
aren’t intrusive, but instead provide subtle pathways for the modern ear to
find its way back to ancient times without a hint of hokeyness.
Part of this is the production decisions. The whole
album echoes like an old stone church, resonant and sparse, letting every note
soak right through you. But another part of it is just the pure and simple
perfection of the players on the record.
The three “stars” are the focus for sure, and Anais
Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman all play and sing beautifully. The
record would be a fine folk record with just them standing around a single mic singing
these classics. The guitar work is soft and feathery. It is perfectly suited to
the mournful tunes they support, lifting you emotionally without ever interfering
with the simple, compelling nature of these traditional tales.
However, the album goes well beyond the three
principals. 14 other musicians play here and there through the record, adding
depth and colour to the record that gives it a contemporary flair. I was
pleased to see that two of the three sisters from the Staves even sing a
little, although I didn’t notice at the time. That’s because everyone just
blends in where they need to.
As for the songs, I couldn’t have asked for a more
thoughtfully curated list. I knew almost none of them other than the
oft-recorded “Bright Morning Stars” (which they nail, by the way) but they
instantly felt like familiar friends. Even after many repeat listens (I was in
no hurry to move on from this record) none ever overstayed its welcome.
The title track is a heartbreaking song of a
woman bemoaning the loss of her bonny light horseman in the Napoleonic Wars. “The
Roving” is a mournful tune of a love faded away. Both are sung with a wistful
sweetness by Anais Mitchell.
In between those two songs we get Eric D.
Johnson, sublimely turning his indie rock vocals from the Fruit Bats to a folk
music style on “Deep In Love.” If this song doesn’t bring back the pangs
– even the full throes – of love exploding in your heart, then I fear you may
not have one. You might want to see a doctor about that.
The album goes on like this from beginning to
end; calling on all the greatness of the songs of previous centuries to bring a
little peace, light and love into a 2020 desperately in need of exactly that.
Best tracks: All tracks, but I am particularly in love with:
Bonny Light Horseman, Deep In Love, The Roving, Blackwaterside, Magpie’s Nest, Lowlands,
10,000 Miles.
The other three songs are also really good.
No comments:
Post a Comment