The Owl Service - A Garland Of Song

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5...according to our Phil on Thu 04 Dec, 2008.

Am back at work now and you'll notice how much worse the reviews get. Trying to concentrate on writing reviews here while bald headed goons run around like numpties is a nightmare. The Owl Service then....They had a CD out on Static Caravan a while back and here's their 1st full length album 'The Garland of Spring'. I love the word length me. Mr Owl is rather fond of British TV and films from the 60's and 70's and the English folk revival. That pretty much sums up what you get on the LP. Very heartwarming traditional sounding folk along the lines of Fairport Convention, Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs etc. A lot of the songs sound like you've heard them before but I think (don't quote me on this....) they're all original compositions. Fans of the folk stylings from The Wicker Man will lap this pagan style folk up. Wizard.

The Owl Service was formed by Steven Collins on 6th June 2006 as a vehicle to explore his love of British films and television of the 1960s and 70s, the great outdoors and the sound of the English folk revival.
A Garland Of Song was recorded and mixed almost entirely at home, with a group of like-minded collaborators, between December 2006 and June 2007; it fuses traditional British folk ballads with elements of psychedelic rock, occasionally bordering on a doom-laden garage sound, and is interspersed with Steven’s original instrumental compositions. It recalls the great acid-folk bands of the late ’60s/early ’70s but never once sounds contrived or overtly retro.
One of the only true contemporary artists actually achieving the sound of the English folk revival.
lThe Owl Service recorded a live set for Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone on BBC6 Music last month and feature on last years’s ‘John Barleycorn Reborn’ compilation and the new ‘What The Folk Vol.2’.
Beautifully illustrated artwork, CD presented in a single gatefold. LP limited to 700 140grm black vinyl gatefold sleeve on raw-board.
For fans of: Fairport Convention, Anne Briggs, The Pentangle, Sandy Denny, Fotheringay, Trees, Mellow Candle.

Tracklisting:
01. A Garland Of Song (Folk Revival) 02. Child Ballad no.49 03. Hoodening 04. The North Country Maid
05. Katie Cruel 06. The Lammas 07. Oxford City (Or The Jealous Lover) 08. Turpin Hero 09. The Dorset Hanging Oak
10. Apple Tree Man 11. Child Ballad no.219 (Or The Gardner Child) 12. Corn Dollies 13. Flanders Shore

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