Pastoral
psychedelia, acid folk, bright psych-lite pop and a Status Quo cover! It's
all there on the second solo LP from Devon's Crystal Jacqueline.
A glance at the track
listing tells you something of this second solo LP from The Honey Pot
vocalist Crystal Jacqueline. Multiple references to the seasons,
nature, mysterious and unobtainable female spirits, all the hallmarks
of an acid-folk album you'd think. A record in the vein of Vashti
Bunyan's Just Another Diamond Day or Shelagh McDonald's
Stargazer. And that's true to a point but there's much more to
it than that. From the almost industrial sounds of opening track
Siren it's obvious things are not so clear cut. Leave your
expectations at the door sonic travellers for scattered among the
Nick Drake-esque pastoral folk tracks are enough surprises, twists
and turns to make this a much more multi-hued and varied affair.
For a start there's the
inclusion two cover versions. A stab at Status Quo's In My Chair and
a lovely assured take on Pink Floyd's Grantchester Meadows. The
former is a tight Chicago R&B shuffle, souped up with
effects-laden guitars, whereas Grantchester Meadows blue-sky folk
gets an added space-rock edge. Strange Bloom has echoes of San
Francisco's golden era, all bluesy and meditative, whereas Daisy
Chain is a bright, psych-lite pop tune that in a fairer world would
have a stay in the top 20.
As the album title
suggests Rainflower thematically revolves around nature,
seasons and the weather. For all its sonic diversity these lyrical
concerns somehow piece it all together. A celebration of deep-winter
and high summer, there's mystery, folklore, the beauty of bloom and
the beauty of decay. And for all it's modern production it still
resonates with the wyrd, deep-rooted ways of Old England. An album to
re-visit and treasure.
Click here for more
from on Crystal Jacqueline.
Click here for the Mega
Dodo Records website.
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