The Magickal Folk of the Faraway Tree - The Soup & The Shilling

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 28 Jan, 2010.

Trad folk is making a right return to the fray, shoving bangers up the bums of anti-folk, alterna-folk, acid folk & agit-folk tykes alike. If you don't follow the purist agenda, some aryan jumper sporting maniac with a thick beard & wild, bloodshot eyes is gonna come round yer house & flute you right up. The Magickal Folk Of The Faraway Tree is a collective dedicated to researching & re-arranging their heritage (traditional Celtic & Anglo-folk oddities) in the most intriguing & earthy manner, be it writing brand new music to hearty traditional lyrics or just altering the arrangements to suit their own agenda. The results are glorious & evocative, spread thickly over two full CD albums, hopefully they'll convert a new generation to the swaying beauty of these bolshy songs! 'The Soup & the Shilling' available now On Deserted Village

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The Long-awaited, long-whispered about Magickal Folk Of The Faraway Tree album has finally arrived. Those of you who have been asking for a reissue for a long time and are now being rewarded with a double CD. "The Mildew Leaf" and "The Cat's Melodeon" cdrs have long been out of print. Along with a track from the Gold Leaf Branches comp they make up Disc One. Disc Two is all new recordings, further exploring the Peter Kennedy songbook and beyond.

The Magickal Folk Of The Faraway Tree began in Dublin in 2002 when David Colohan (Agitated Radio Pilot, United Bible Studies) got his hands on an edition of Peter Kennedy's classic collection "Folksongs of Britain and Ireland". Along with Shane Cullinane (The Cosmic Nanou, United Bible Studies) he began to pick songs to work on. Disregarding the notation they simply wrote their own music for the traditional lyrics. Other songs such as Spencer The Rover were learned from recordings or heard in sessions and are more faithfully recorded. The newer recordings on disc two are augmented by original instrumentals in the old style. The two discs cover all the classic folk themes: homesick emigrants, murder, drinking, war and love. These are songs of the people whether they are sung in English, French or Gaelic.

The actor Caroline Coffey (also heard on The Jonah by UBS) provides the sole female voice, sometimes a gentle ghostly whisper, other times a more like a banshee. She is also a more full-bodied presence on rousing songs such as Here's A Health To All True Lovers. Sure enough other members of United Bible Studies contributed; Gavin Prior and Scott McLaughlin on various strings. It wasn't until Seán Óg brought his flute-playing to the mix that The Folk had found their sound.

While United Bible Studies and Agitated Radio Pilot are at the modern/exploratory end of the folk continuum, The Magickal Folk Of The Faraway Tree take a traditional approach, sticking to acoustic instruments. Nevertheless, purists may be perplexed when confronted with completely new melodies to familiar song titles. Those who have never heard the 'originals' would have no reason to suspect the melodies were written in the early 21st century. Therein lies the strength of this double album; Imagination and energy are brought to old songs but with a love of of the tradition evident at all times.

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