Catch Joshua Burnell at a festival and your interest is likely to be aroused by a memorable performance of folk music successful at bridging the gap between the staunchly traditional and the progressively endearing. This happened to me at the inaugural Beardy Folk Festival in 2018 with his distinguished shades and rampant keyboard led cheerleading parading the band through an exciting and enterprising set. Although Burnell has a few albums behind him, mainly exploring and re-interpreting traditional songs, the release of a brand-new collection of original songs has the potential to lift him out of a perceived promising category and into one of fully fledged leading folk-light. FLOWERS WHERE THE HORSE SLEEP is a primely packaged set of ten largely formula-free folk songs blending fine arrangement and a lauded stab of putting an enterprising slant on proceedings.
Largely formula-free was a designed comment in lieu of two tracks which put a huge footprint of what you would expect from a record aimed at the core of a genre. The stomping folk piece ‘The Ballad of Mark Jeffrey’ has all the hallmarks of a Seth Lakeman structured number, while ‘Joan of the Greenwood’ is ‘trad all over’ to thrill purists with tales of young maidens et al. How the specialist folk fraternity match up Joshual Burnell will likely be revealed in due course, yet there may be mileage in expanding appeal to the margins and how casual observers respond to this record.
Two tracks that prompted curious interest were ‘Invisible Wings’ and ‘Outside’, the former one of the mellower offering, while the second shrouded in mystique and intrigue. Album opener ‘Labels’ is a decent lead off track, and whether or not intended by the writer, the line ‘throw your labels away’ always surmises the constricts of genre. Two of the album’s contributors which leave a favourable impression are the fiddle of well-known musician Katriona Gilmore and the co-vocals of Frances Sladen, who regular works with Burnell.
The slightly symphonic ‘Le Fay’ is the chosen track for promotion and is a lively experimental number mixing in several factors including spouts of electronica and guitar rock snippets. Elsewhere the pop-style alt-folk effort ‘Run with Me’ and the unique piano-led piece ‘Let Me Fall Down’ hold court at the heart of the record. In fact, piano is the defining input into the album’s ethereal finale with the ballad ‘Two Stars’.
It is suspected that tightly knit folk friendly circles will heap earned praise on FLOWERS WHERE THE HORSE SLEEPS. What makes this album more rounded is that its appeal expands to the margins and whether that is the intention of Joshua Burnell or not, it will help him evolve as a versatile and progressively adaptable musical performer.