Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou
Part of this album I really, really like, and part of it I find downright irritating – it’s a strange dichotomy, and makes listening to it an odd experience.
It’s very folksy, and that’s nice, but there are definitely times when it is way too overdone for my personal taste. There is a tweeness about the lyrics in particular which at times really does put me off, but at times old-fashioned styles are blended with modern scenarios in a way which gives this album a really strong and appealing character of its own.
The first track embodies my uncertainty about this album. It’s a lovely little ode to the allotment – a lovely, pretty song on one hand, and yet somehow gratingly soft-focus sentimentalism on the other. This theme continues through the album and I honestly can’t tell you where I stand on it.
If forced to nail my colours to the mast, I think I would say that the Laura Ashley-flavoured soft focus nature of the album ultimately gets to me too much to enjoy much of this. There are some really strong tunes at the beginning in particular, and I really do like the first third of this album, but after the half-way mark I find myself really drifting, and it is a bit of a struggle to listen to all the way through.
I like what these guys are doing, but they are seeking a balance which is tricky to find, and whilst at times they seem to absolutely nail it, which is why I wanted to write about this album in the first place, I think that a little too often they err on the site of flared corduroys and a paisley shirt for me to fully embrace this particular record. It’s definitely doing something which I really like though, so I will be keeping an eye on them in future for sure.
Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou – One Wednesday in June
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Trevor Moss & Hannah Lou – England
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I have to admit that I checked that this wasn’t in ‘unsigned bands’ before writing this but, I have to say this is awful.
The sound just comes across as contrived and forced. And her voice on the second one is so grating.
Well I rather like her voice actually, which is probably why a few of the songs really appeal to me. I wouldn’t disagree in some cases however. It’s the subject matter which does it for me half the time – there’s actually a whole song about how lovely the Concorde is, which just comes across as a bit surreal, especially when juxtaposed with the folksy musical style.
One Wednesday In June is okay, although it seems sort of circular. The melody just loops and never really progresses much. But I think England is really excellent. Starting at about 1:25 there’s a stretch of some really fine singing and songwriting:
“And father, father forgive me
For I have sinned
And wished great ill upon a fellow man
Please spare him the fire
Spare him the pleasures he demands
Just give him time
Give him time.”
A very humane lyric, sung beautifully.
I know this isn’t the type of in-depth analysis you prefer to receive on here; but this just isn’t very good is it?
It’s a bit like when you see pictures painted by a class of five-year-olds in infants’ school. While you’d expect none of them to have any vastly-developed artistic identity yet, you can begin to see that some of the kids have a degree of imagination and are beginning to nurture a sense of composition and spatial awareness, while others have just tipped the pot of poster paint over on the page and written “My Pet Tortoise, Fluffy” underneath.
C&B – simple arrangements are at the heart of folk music, remember. These rolling refrains would develop, and a largely variable set of verses could then be applied to a simple, repetitive structure, giving the song the versatility to be adapted and changed depending on what the person singing or adopting it might want to portray.
Dylan – as to it being good or not, I dunno about that. The style is nice, the sound is warm and comforting, and I like both her voice and the way it is complemented by harmonies when they choose.
It’s more the knit-your-own-muesli aspect of a lot of it which niggles at me – something about the slightly peculiar charicature of England which it draws. It has a strange mood as if trying to recreate a rose-tinted nostalgia for seventies hippy countryside fetishism, but one a bit oddly removed from the stuff it seems to hold in a strange kind of distorted reverence.
Technically I think it’s easily as proficient as it needs to be, and it’s certainly and obviously not the clueless fumbling of people with no idea what they’re doing. It’s just got a weird atmosphere to it which occasionally puts me right off, and which sometimes I can see past to really enjoy the music.
I hear what you’re saying about simple arrangements and rolling refrains being at the heart of folk music and all that. True enough. Some of my favorite folk songs are pretty monotonous as far as melody goes. Dylan’s Ballad of Hollis Brown or Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll spring to mind, both of which are totally repetitive musically. Perhaps what One Wednesday In June lacks for me is an interesting story or lyrical progression. It appears to be about food or something?
That said, I really like England, which has a much more interesting lyric.
saw these at Homegame and they were ace…..
Were they? Oh that’s good, I always like it when bands get a slagging and then turn out to be good!
yeah you mentioned that you gave them a ok to good review and people said you were wrong.
They were very charming and engaging live. i’ll deffo go and see them again
Yeah, reading the review, it’s not quite as positive as I remember either.