By Big Eyes Family Players
There is many a comparison from folk music to folk collective, folk music performer and folk music scene… With Big Eyes Family Players on ‘Oh!’ their carvery comes straight out of 1970 and a Fleetwood Mac angle bracket is duly noted. Endearing gender ebbing goes with the grainy and great timpani of Clannad and XL artist Joanna Newsome, unharmed vocals and whirling gentle guitars. Of the big time, but not as sized as we might imagine. Glomerating folk music, free of freak spleen and judgementality occurring.
‘Desert Queen’ is Joanna Newsome filtered operatically quasi through Bark Psychosis percussion. ‘Ghost’ walks more of a gothic Abba and Heart route, if that were ever possible. Feeling open about its own clarion call to wistful romance – “we both know it was there, showing us what was coming”. Ultimately the LP as a whole is a love fidelity laser beam straight out of the last few decades, gesturing instrumentally towards incidental and classical music both in arrangements and in instrumentation. The meaning behind and expunged from the effects is to ignore the punch of the lyrics though. They are pertinent and probing, all female sung, the organs of ‘The Blind Punch’ hammering home a Spaghetti Western hybrid amidst a well of fuzz and static. A timely release that’s full of charm to warm winter nights.