This weeks Simple Folk Radio is presented by Dillon, with studio guest MARY HAMPTON. Featuring in session THIRTY POUNDS OF BONE.
Aired to mark the release of his critically acclaimed album ‘I Cannot Sing You Here, But For Songs Of Where’.
On Thirty Pounds OF Bone
“Thirty Pounds of Bone is the work of Johny Lamb, and ICSYHBFSOW (abbreviated for typing convenience) is his third album of folk songs using the moniker. Like Darren Hayman’s ‘The Violence’ this is definitely a folk album, but one thing that it shares with that album (other than some vocals by Hayman, one of a number of guests on the record) is sounding traditional without ever slipping into genre cliché.
Time and place is an important theme of the album and the songs..there is a real sense of a journey.. This is in part due to the style of the songs, opener ‘Veesik for the Broch’ is distinctly rural sounding whilst other songs bring to mind the sea or the town as you move through the album. The pervading mood of the album is melancholy with even the most upbeat moment, the brilliant ‘Streets I Staggered Down’ having an undercurrent of darkness. This is in no way a criticism, and the dark mood brings forward a lot of quiet beauty across the twelve songs. ‘The Maritime Line’ is a case in point, it seems pervaded with sadness but the picked guitars and fiddle playing are so lovely that it can’t help but be an uplifting musical experience. The instrumentation is impeccable throughout with banjos, dulcimers, accordions and dozens of traditional instruments subtly supported by electronics to deliver the set of songs.It is also an album that develops with every play and demands time from the listener, not something that necessarily sits well with the modern Spotify/iTunes educated audience.
It is the best folk album I’ve heard this year and one of the best albums full stop” – By Dorian Rogers/Neon Filler
Thirty Pounds Of Bone’s album ‘I Cannot Sing You Here, But For Songs Of Where’ is released on May 6th on Armellodie Records.
On Mary Hampton
“Hampton creates art that is timeless, seasonless and genderless. It’s steeped in history and rooted in the Sussex downs and pebbled beaches, yet is also completely of the present and gleefully inventive. There are no histrionics, only an intense calm. But the calm isn’t restful, it’s anticipatory, like a hush in the air before the rain. When Hampton sings, her mouth twists into ugly shapes. Beauty is not simple and it is never painless”- Collapse Board
Broadcast Schedule – UK Time Zone
Sunday 5th May 2013 @ 5pm – on Folk Radio UK
Then repeated on the following:
Monday: @ 2am
Wednesday: @ 9pm
Friday: @ 1pm
http://thirtypoundsofbone.bandcamp.com/album/i-cannot-sing-you-here-but-for-songs-of-where
http://www.maryhampton.org/
http://www.simplefolkradio.com/