BLUE-EYED HAWK - Under the Moon
EDITION RECORDS CD EDN 1054
Lauren Kinsella: voice; Laura Jurd: trumpet, synthesizer, voice; Alex Roth: guitar, synthesizer, voice, effects; Corrie Dick: drums, percussion, harmonium, piano, voice.
There is additional support from Leafcutter John and Tom Herbert, both of Polar Bear fame.
Under the Moon is the title of a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) and from a line in the same poem is derived Blue-eyed Hawk, the name of the band. The poetic roots are very apt because that is exactly how I would describe Lauren Kinsella's lyrics and the fine distinctions and gradations of her audacious and captivating vocals.
The very title of the first track, Oyster Trails, is evocative of poesy, of an idyllic muse, setting the contemplative mood for the rest of the album, even though the band's renderings of Somewhere (over the rainbow) and Living in the Fast Lane are considerably thrash-punkish.
The pensive, temperamental ambience compensates for these two different styles in the again quiet, ruminative beauty of sweet songs like For Tom and Everything and finally full circle to the touching modulations of the spacious Valediction, lines inspired by another poem (Seamus Heaney).
Having listened through this album, it will be apparent that this quartet is highly collaborative, that each has a high level of musical skill and an individual voice, but wishes too to speak for the entity. The whole is a cultured and intelligent wrap that is spellbindingly beautiful.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
EDITION RECORDS CD EDN 1054
Lauren Kinsella: voice; Laura Jurd: trumpet, synthesizer, voice; Alex Roth: guitar, synthesizer, voice, effects; Corrie Dick: drums, percussion, harmonium, piano, voice.
There is additional support from Leafcutter John and Tom Herbert, both of Polar Bear fame.
Under the Moon is the title of a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) and from a line in the same poem is derived Blue-eyed Hawk, the name of the band. The poetic roots are very apt because that is exactly how I would describe Lauren Kinsella's lyrics and the fine distinctions and gradations of her audacious and captivating vocals.
The very title of the first track, Oyster Trails, is evocative of poesy, of an idyllic muse, setting the contemplative mood for the rest of the album, even though the band's renderings of Somewhere (over the rainbow) and Living in the Fast Lane are considerably thrash-punkish.
The pensive, temperamental ambience compensates for these two different styles in the again quiet, ruminative beauty of sweet songs like For Tom and Everything and finally full circle to the touching modulations of the spacious Valediction, lines inspired by another poem (Seamus Heaney).
Having listened through this album, it will be apparent that this quartet is highly collaborative, that each has a high level of musical skill and an individual voice, but wishes too to speak for the entity. The whole is a cultured and intelligent wrap that is spellbindingly beautiful.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
