For a site known to occasionally champion female artists
from the country, roots and Americana genre with probably a slight bias to
performers pitching their wares from across the Atlantic, perhaps the time is
right to focus on some home grown talent at the heart of the folk movement.
While the leading lights get extensive column inches elsewhere, it is with
great pleasure to present a collection of songwriters pursuing the endeavour of
catching the glare of the radar. FEMMES FATALES OF FOLK contains ten tracks
from nine artists and manages to capture a wide reaching flavour of what this cohort
of talented ladies are capable of.
Under the guidance of the developing Folkstock Records team,
each track makes its mark whether original or not and leaves a lasting
impression with a desire to check out the artist. As you would expect in a
diverse offering, different styles are accommodated to suit whether your
desires are for a soothing, edgy, wispy, haunting, classical or impassioned
sound. In some tracks the voice surpasses the song and vice a versa in others
but whatever the merit, each artist deserves the spotlight they are getting
through this release.
The gateway to coming across this album was catching and
commenting upon Kelly Oliver’s set at Cambridge Folk Festival earlier this
month. Her beautiful vocals resonated with high value and the Hertfordshire
based songstress is the artist granted two tracks on this album. There is a
slight contrast in her traditional style delivery of the original folk tale ‘The Witch of Walkern’ and her stunning
cover of the Dougie MacLean standard ‘Caledonia’.
It is ironic that this song has now been reviewed twice in the last month with
the Ward Thomas version matching up well against Kelly’s charming effort.
While Kelly acted as the conductive artist in discovering
this collection, the find could quite easily be the passionate protest message
evoking tones of Marina Florance. With all the traits of those who have successfully
ploughed this furrow in the past, ‘The
Path He Chose’ is a stark reminder that a century on from the outbreak of
the Great War, there are still not so great consequences from conflict.
FEMMES FATALES OF FOLK has introduced me to the music of a
name familiar on social media but undiscovered to date. ‘Wise Words’ is a beautifully sung soothing song from Minnie Birch
with a gentle acoustic background supporting a near pristine attempt to deliver
a composition strong on melody and graceful upon reception. ’45 Fever’ by Zoe Wren is a more upbeat
effort but another succeeding in hooking in your aural senses. Having listened
to a fair amount of Canadian folk music recently this style has been
successfully interpreted across the Atlantic divide in equal quality measure.
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| Kelly Oliver |
Apart from showcasing some excellent talent, the entity of
FEMME FATALES OF FOLK is the redeeming feature and presenting opportunity in a
format that has the potential to engage across the roots spectrum. Try before
you buy will whet your appetite but cherry pick only when further pursuing
artists after adding the whole of FEMMES FATALES OF FOLK to your collection.