…it really is as if we are stuck in an enchanted farm on a lonely moor and these sounds are coming out of the walls to disturb us…
…it really is as if we are stuck in an enchanted farm on a lonely moor and these sounds are coming out of the walls to disturb us…
Jacob Olausson – Moonlight Farm
A fabulous release, this, right from the bowing and scraping on What Will Tomorrow Bring. There’s an almost unearthly presence at work here. The opener doesn’t half sound like a bunch of lapsed monks singing after a night out. However, if you don’t dig stuff that sounds utterly, wantonly out of tune, then you’re not going to get past this opening track. It’s so dolorous it’s untrue. If you do like the idea of this record’s peculiar brand of acoustic dissonance, you’re in for a treat. Welcome Traveller‘s flute driven ramblings are reminiscent of Lord Krishna Von Golowoka’s stunning 1972 release whereas Silhouette V is a stunningly organic piece replete with unearthly voices floating in and out of the mix. It really is as if we are stuck in an enchanted farm on a lonely moor and these sounds are coming out of the walls to disturb us… things become more placid towards the end, preparing us for At the Citadel, which is an up-beat ditty of sorts, albeit one that boasts the most ridiculously sluggish guitar solos of all time.
Elsewhere, Live to Tell (disappointingly NOT a cover of the Madonna song) is a dreamy blues ballad, spaced out on its own lethargy, whereas Queen Bee is a stoner track par excellence, replete with droning, smashed-out-of-your-mind vocals. The Wind Combs Her Hair and Napalm Sky are beautiful, the way AR Kane’s music was; crystalline and shot through with menace. What else? Well, last is the brilliantly named Unforgivable Question, a return to the opening song’s style of random timing and droning vocals.
An intriguing listen, then. One for the dark nights in front of the campfire.
Words: Richard Foster