WOODCRAFT FOLK - Trough Of Bowland

How much satisfaction chance can bring… Bought

on instinct, smitten by the evocative cover art, with no idea whatsoever

what it contained. What is this? It sounds like folk, but it's in turn influenced by

acoustic experimentalism, small electronic intrusions, an imaginary

world made of small, precious instruments, played with gentleness and quiet restraint.

An oblivion made of notes and plucks, warmth and strummed strings, xylophones that

chime happily, little bells trilling and bubbling over.

“Love The

Monk” is a folk mantra, a dark black mass, a guitar plays mournfully,

a percussion is barely audible, souls enslaved by remorse scream their

suffering. Metallic sounds seem like clanking chains, shining timbres

echo the sound of a drop of water falling steadily on a rock,

chords overlap, counterpoints are silence turning into music.

“Old House At Home” is a tiny, tiny electronica, teeny-tiny sounds,

a very minimal organ. Colorful, fizzy repetitions, murky synth,

real and disfigured percussion, pure and dismembered. An autumnal sketch that hybridizes

a purely indie-tronic spirit with electro souls. The toy-like playfulness

merges with the dark drift, then, some "played" percussion brings

reality back down to Earth. Synthetic sizzling, distant and mysterious lapping water.

A soundtrack for a beach made gloomy by looming clouds.

“Blokfute” captivates without half measures. The interweaving of xylophones,

metallic triangles, various ferrous acoustic instruments leave no escape. A

searing synth makes up the suitable backdrop, a banjo starts emitting random notes,

a digital howl sounds like some tormented being, forced into captivity. It all

blends together and the various parts give way to one another, in a

reciprocal fashion. Four minutes of pure beauty.

“Tracy Finger” is an

experiment combining IDM and folk, “Willow Beauty” is guitar and synth,

synth and guitar, classicism and technology, an aestheticizing union. “Wee Maker” is

a sort of acid-folk, but it sounds like the wailing of some disturbed

and fragmented music. Glitch (?!). Unknown notes (guitar? piano?) get

stabbed by all sorts of grime, and it all carries on quite naturally, the

timbres feed off each other and reproduce in turn, with no sense of

continuity.

“Village Of Mells” features the addition of a “real” voice. A

lament, more than actual words. This human hiss is completely

surrounded by an amateurish, home-made atmosphere. Concrete instruments are

paired with skittering bleeps, splashes as noisy as an

unlistenable silence. The snare wraps around us with its vaguely

regular rhythm, fades and returns, leaving disturbed notes to the silence.

“Milf

Floats” is tender and meticulously detailed, “Conroy Plays Vibes” is a

disjointed dance of festive little creatures, “Reindeer On The Roof” sounds like

a lullaby for alien children.

“Reigned-In” is brilliant. A myriad of

sounds chase one another at an unsustainable speed, stars flicker giving off

sound and noise, a river flows rushing along, fireflies scream in silence,

paper meteorites fall gently.

The finale is entrusted to “Old House At

Home II”: 11 minutes of peace and rhythm. A rhythm that first falls apart and then

comes back together. A melody that at first seems calm and mysterious, and then

moment reveals its happiness, with sweet innocence and sugary sounds. A little tune that

captures the most sensitive hearts and the most wandering minds. A composition that

remains suspended in the air, impossible to pin down, impossible to give it

a place of its own. Beautiful.

I can say that, once past 2005, I found a

record that makes my beloved Tujiko-Takamasa pairing on “28” waver? Yes, I can say that.

Ride the wave of great music

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30/04/2026