Stick In The Wheel – Hold Fast (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:28 minutes | 810 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © From Here Records
Much of the acclaim for London-based English folk evolutionists Nicola Kearey (vocals) and Ian Carter (guitar/producer) has been down to their willingness to introduce a contemporary edge to the genre. The pair originally worked together in dubstep outfit Various, and elements of electronica enhanced their first two albums. However, whereas this mercurial tendency has previously been a strength, there’s the sense that they’ve overstretched on Hold Fast, the disparate strands failing to coalesce into any sort of cohesive whole.
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Stick In The Wheel – Follow Them True (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:33 minutes | 754 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © From Here Records
The more troubled the times, the more folk music becomes a necessity. This is holds especially true in 2018. And that’s thanks to groups like Stick In The Wheel, who have been a sensation in the genre since 2015 with their powerful first album From Here. Follow Them True confirms their sense of urgency. In their words, in their stripped-down instrumental approach, which is never monolithic, and in their interpretations (Nicola Kearey’s voice is striking), these Londoners awaken the sleeping woods and set the mossiest stones dancing. Whether Stick In The Wheel are revisiting a traditional air or bringing out an original composition, their power is the same, and their determination is unflagging. Folk music has rarely seemed so… modern.
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