Fife Kills | Eaten by Monsters

This is yet another one from north of the border, which seems to be the theme for this week’s posts. Eagleowl specialise in that kind of esoteric folkish music that seems to be occupying so much of my time lately, and is yet hard to find a name for. Eagleowl themselves call it “lo-fi post folk”, which works about as well as any other term I’ve heard.

For the Thoughts You Never Had is another record that’s all about space and ambiance – the texture of their electric guitar and arco double bass is used particularly effectively. Perhaps more time could have been spent on the violin arrangement and recording: the parts were a little by-the-numbers, and sounded somewhat tinny and scratchy to these ears – but let me stress that that’s a minor quibble with what is an otherwise excellent EP.

In keeping with other Fife Kills releases, this is one for absorbing during a quiet night by the fire. Most of the songs are slow burners and they aren’t afraid to make the listener work; It’s a thinking man’s record, if you will (I certainly can’t imagine anyone dancing to it. At least not successfully…). This is all thrown delightfully out the window, however, when one reaches the fifth and final track. The superbly/terribly (depending on your mood) titled M*the*rf*ck*r could almost be seen as a pop song, in traditional sense of the word. There’s hooks and everything! On the whole I prefer them sans drum-machine, but I’ve always been one to appreciate a musical sting in the tail…

Eagleowl – Blanket

Hurrah – autumn is finally here. The weather’s cold and damp, but it’s supposed to be; which makes a nice change from the wash-out that was summer ’08. And what better way to enjoy being being cozy and warm inside on a blustery day than with a preview of the new Rob St John EP, Like Alchemy. Rob’s been making small but pretty persistent waves up in Scotland for a while now, and any regular readers of Song, by Toad or the Daily Growl will already be familiar with his work, but for those new to his music, he specialises in fragile, somewhat pastoral alt./new/whatever folk music, all wrapped up in “boutique” handmade packaging.

This new EP marks a bit of a step forward, as it appears he is now actually a full band. This record was made in one evening – recorded pretty much live – and features harmonium, autoharp, baritone uke, glock, saw (awesome!), cello and double bass, as well as Rob’s familiar gentle voice and guitaring. The record comes out on the 8th of December (released by the lovely Fife Kills: records), but is limited to 250 “hand numbered and stamped recycled card copies”. It’ll be avaliable in various indie record shops up north, and for the rest of us we’ll be able to find it at Rough Trade, London, but I’d recommend emailing him to pre-order a copy.

It’s only four songs long, so Rob’s asked (understandably) that I post only one mp3 from the actual release, but I’ve managed to get my grubby mitts on a live recording of one of the tracks, so hopefully there’s enough here to let you judge the music for yourself (though if you ask me, it’s a beautiful record).