The Owl Service - The View From A Hill

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3...according to our Clinton on Fri 04 Jun, 2010.

I reviewed this lot the other week and here they are again. This is their new full length album. They are doing some kind of project at the moment with different releases coming out in different formats at different times of the year. I can't really figure it all out but it appears that this is the centre piece of it all. You will often hear me whining about modern folk music but the opening track here has real quality to it. Superbly recorded, a twisting melody that would have fitted in perfectly on Sandy Denny's post Fairport group Fotheringay. After that it all becomes a bit finger in the ear chirpy folk. It just seems all a bit contrived but there you go. Lots of people like this sort of stuff and it will appeal to fans of Fairport Convention, Trees, Steeleye Span, Pentangle, dingly dells etc.

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* 2010 sees the return of The Owl Service, following up their critically acclaimed debut album, A Garland of Song, with with an ambitious new project on their own Rif Mountain imprint. The Pattern Beneath the Plough is a series of 4 releases spread throughout the year and across different formats. The centrepiece is a full length CD album entitled The View From a Hill released on May Day 2010 - an epic set of 15 songs which sees the band refining both their sound and their approach to arranging traditional song. The result is a timeless collection of exquisitely produced folk-rock which, like their debut album, recalls past giants of the genre such as Mellow Candle, Fairport Convention and Trees, but is stamped with the band's own sound, a sound that's becoming ever more distinctive.

* These are the first recordings to feature all the current members of the seven-strong collective, but once again the band are joined by some old friends, most notably Alison O'Donnell (of Mellow Candle) and Joolie Wood (of Current 93).

* The View From a Hill is presented as a single CD in card digipack sleeve with an 8 page booklet of notes and photographs. It's preceded by a CD EP of winter songs entitled The Burn Comes Down, and will be followed by a 7" of murder ballads and a vinyl mini-album of sea songs later in the year. All tracks will be exclusive to each release.

* Expect a similar press response to A Garland of Song, and to the releases on the band's previous label Midwich Records.

* For fans of Fairport Convention, Trees, Mellow Candle, Steeleye Span, Caedmon, The Pentangle}

* TRACKLIST: 1. Polly on the Shore / 2. The Banks of the Nile / 3. Ladies, Don't Go a-Thieving / 4. I Was a Young Man / 5. Sorry the Day I Was Married / 6. Willie O'Winsbury / 7. In Thorneymoor Woods pt.1 / 8. The Bold Poachers / 9. In Thorneymoor Woods pt.2 / 10. The Lover's Ghost / 11. The Ladies Go Dancing at Whitsun / 12. Willie O'Winsbury (reprise) / 13. The Loyal Lover / 14. Within Sound / 15. Cruel Mother

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