Canadian duo Miranda Mulholland & Andrew Penner, best known as Harrow Fair, caused quite a stir with their debut album Call to Arms, described by David Kidman in his Folk Radio review as an apt title – “the gut force of heavy kick drum propels the equally heavy violin and guitar (and an assortment of other sounds) along beneath the duo’s eerily wailing, rootsy vocals.”
The good news is that they are back with their second album – Sins We Made, due out April 17, 2020, on Roaring Girl Records.
The band’s bold second album is a potent showcase of the duo’s skilled and acute blending of voices, harmonies, instruments and textures. Sonically and thematically, Harrow Fair’s new music explores the spectrum that lies between light and dark.
While their debut, Call To Arms was a brash and exciting foray into the genre with sonically bright primary colours, Sins We Made paints with all the shades in the palette. Harrow Fair is a veritable Canadian powerhouse of hoof-thumping, soul-wrenching, transcendent Americana.
“…masterpieces of delicacy and haunting gorgeousness which demonstrate how peerless and symbiotic is the duo’s rapport and how skilled is their acute blending of voices and textures.” Folk Radio UK
Watch the video that accompanies the lead single and the title track of the album. “A social commentary on the last few years’ tumultuous news cycle in 8 blind items using a folk song counting trope.”
Harrow Fair have also announced a string of UK tour dates including a show at London’s Slaughtered Lamb on Tuesday 5th May. See below.
Harrow Fair UK Tour Dates
Fri May 1 – Town Hall – Bewdley, UK (Supporting Lynne Hanson)
Sat May 2 – Biddulph Town Hall (Beer and Music Festival) – Biddulph, Staffordshire
Sun May 3 – Old Cinema Launderette – Durham, UK
Tues May 5 – Slaughtered Lamb – London, UK
Wed May 6 – What’s Cookin’ – Leytonstone, UK
Thurs May 7 – Glad Cafe, Glasgow, Scotland (Supporting Lynne Hanson)
Fri May 8 – The Cobblestone – Dublin, Ireland
Sat May 9 – Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival – Belfast, UK
Sun May 10 – Twyford Social Club – Winchester, UK
Photo by Jen Squires