United Bible Studies
The Jonah

This record left our Business Lady feeling happy.

'The Jonah' by United Bible Studies is by their own admission a folk-prog concept record which is a rare thing in the year 2009. The title is a reference to the James Herbert novel that tells the tale of the Jonah, a cursed man who brings bad luck everywhere. Grim stuff! The cover is pure sacrifice madness with what looks like some kind of space station landing in some psudo-stonehenge environment. United Bible Studies sound like they are probably from the south east but this might a generalization based on the fact that they invoke the spirit of the twee folk rock of Pentangle. It's pleasant conceptualized stuff with proper dramatic poetry sang in a quintessentially British tweeness that I've not heard on a record made anytime before 1972. But what do we have here....The end of track two has a real nice King Crimson style guitar moment that has plucked my ears up and now it's track three and they've picked up pace a little. Now we've got ourselves a prog rock/krautrock wig-out with dramatic black metal vocalism!! Yes, doomy!! This'll be the sound of the ever oppressive Jonah!!! He sounds like Mum-raa before he clears his throat in the morning after a hefty night out in Plun-darr. OK, now it's calmed down again. I'm enjoying parts of this record but I'm amazed at how regal and twee it sounds. People just don't make records like this anymore and can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing. Basically, if you like 'In the Court of the Crimson King' by King Crimson then you might have some interest in this release.

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What their label says...

Camera Obscura is proud to be able to present to the world the follow-up to the band's masterful "The Shore That Fears the Sea", and it's a cornucopia of sonic delights, covering the spectrum from delicate folk to sprawling progressive rock.

Originally formed as a duo with an unhealthy desire to emulate the incredible string band, UBS quickly evolved into a collective and laid the groundwork for the Deserted Village label and events. Since their formation in winter 2001 they have played and recorded sporadically-never settling on one recording method, never settling on one line-up. "The Shore that Fears the Sea" shows a love of the unadorned beauty of Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs and Vashti Bunyan, Current 93, Coil and Sol Invictus, as well as the work of poets Edwin Morgan and WS Graham. Sparse folk sidles up to a more melodic take on improvisation and tales of loss and pagan longing abound. If they could exist anywhere, they would be playing in the Green Man when Sergeant Howie arrives.

Since their Sun worship ritual at The Mór Festival in 2003, the students have increased their activities. The set, which included radical re-workings of some of their quiet new folk songs has been edging towards a more Pharoah Sanders/ Emperor/ Can hybrid thanks to the new drums and horns helping them to blaze brighter in the northern skye. Live shows throughout Ireland and Britain and most recently the USA (Including Terrastock '08) have seen them wildly improvise with up to twelve members or play straight trad as a trio. Standard rock instrumentation is bolstered with theremins, fretless banjos, accordions, bugles... whatever comes to hand... Their philosophy is that all paths are equal, all approaches relevant. Members have sometimes met on stage for the first time.

Though inspired by Irish Folk music, United Bible Studies have always seen themselves in a global context. They've had a slew of releases on microlabels across the planet and have invited many like-minded artists to tour Ireland with them including Avarus, Fursaxa, Corsano/Flaherty, Black Forest/Black Sea, Circle, Sunburned Hand of the Man, Pinkie and John, ZU, Daniel Padden, Nalle and Pumice, Josephine Foster, Mi & L'au. UBS played as Damo Suzuki's backing band twice: First at the demented beer garden after-party of the Mór Festival 2004 which saw people dancing in tongues and using every solid object as a drum and a sold-out two-hour set in Galway in March 2005.

Here are Gavin Prior's accompanying notes to "The Jonah" (only available here):

1. The Swallowing. This is a prelude to the Jonah but is the last track we came up with for the album. It plucks some lyrics from Jonah which I plucked from Beckett. Richard Moult provided the synth and voice.

2. The Jonah. The title is a reference to the James Herbert novel where a Jonah is a cursed person who brings bad luck everywhere. This was the first track we recorded for this album during a two week burst of industry and creativity when we locked ourselves away in Mullingar. Richard Youngs' prog project Ilk provided the impetus for us to make the "prog album" (which was the working title) so we started with this everything-but-the-kitchen-sink opus. David's imagery for the first section was partially inspired by the Vin Diesel film Pitch Black. We got the structure down in a day and that night I had a feverish dream where I bumped into a friend with his baby. I'd apparently forgotten he'd had a daughter so I bluffed through the pleasantries. I took her hand and she turned into a fly and flew away. The father caught her by the wing and it tore off. I wrote lyrics about it to David's melody but he raised the bar by writing the synth section to the new lyrics.

3. The Newly Risen Mountains. David's post-apocalyptic vision of plants reclaiming the streets in the absence of humans. Additional gusto provided by Alison O'Donnell.

4. A For Andromeda. This piece formed before our eyes when we had Richard Moult over for some recording but took a fair bit of tweaking to get it all to flow together. The end section was sent to us by Richard Skelton who sends music out to the world for collaborations

5. Veilsong. This song had its hazy genesis in the concert which became the "Airs of Sun and Stone" album. When Sharron Kraus was touring Ireland we dug out some tracks for her to play on in the limited time she'd be around. She plays tin whistle on this track.

6. The Lowlands of Holland. David and Sharron both knew this song from the singing of Martin Carthy so they knocked it out in no time. It was some time before we filled in the gaps and it sailed off on the winds of Alison O'Donnell.

7. Skellys' Fireplace. Named after the famed Ballymahon pub and the many sessions which occurred there, but specifically written the night after Johnny Moynihan played in the fireplace. Recorded in Galway over a bottle of whiskey.

8. The Mildew Leaf. Recorded in Boyle by David and Shane and drawing on stories they heard from their friends in the Magickal Folk of the Faraway Tree. The idea of the blood of a hanged man seeping into the earth to awaken the spirits.

9. Mirror in Cherwell. I had this instrumental knocking around for a while but hit a block. I picked up Sharron's oft-coveted parlour guitar and I never looked back. Scott McLaughlin laid down the cello later.

10. Death In The Arctic. This was the first song I recorded with Shane before UBS even existed. Shane got the lyrics from a Robert Service poem. I wrote the melodica break when I was sixteen and when Shane played me his home recording I was completely captivated and the riff had found a home. It's the closest I've ever come to a 'Baker Street' or a 'Careless Whisper'. It used to be a 23 minute suite before a hardware crash scuppered our duo album. No harm done in the long run.

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