This is the third album from LITTLE ARROW, led by the song writing talents of William Hughes. Their last album was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize so acclaim would seem to be well and truly on the way. Having not heard any of their previous work I cannot tell if this is an improvement; I can only say that this is an accomplished piece and I would describe it as contemporary alternative folk. William’s voice is stout and classical and his lyrics interesting. The band is measured and sympathetic with their ‘interpretations’.
Government Bodies starts out all ghostly with disembodied voice and submarine radar and then begins proper, sounding like an old blues recording. Medicine Moon follows on quite naturally and is a catchy effort with big guitar breaks. It is a good advert for the band. Pier Mountain starts out ‘olden times’ again and is essentially a restrained track that builds with full band interplay for the final two minutes.
Loss Um is more upfront vocally, carried along by toms and also has within it a lovely ‘disappearing act’. Diamond Shy is downbeat and moody. Flat Earth has a touch of the old fashioned sing-a-long about it. War Drones isn’t going to stop us going off to war again but it does get the point across. Holding & Knowing is a beautiful love song which is followed by the off kilter pop prog of Ha Ha Happiness. It’s a winning formula.
Spider is perhaps the most straightforward track in terms of arrangement and all the better for it. It describes the “ghosts of our making” pretty well. The album finishes with the more traditional folk of Hedgerow.
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You often hear in music about people ‘pushing at boundaries’ and creating something great as a result. This always strikes me as stuff and nonsense. It is far more likely that people (who happen to make music) are sometimes willing to push at the hedgerows that bound their own ‘personal’ fields (sometimes collectively) to see what they are made of and what else is about, and in doing so are able to create interesting artefacts. Little Arrow seem well on the way to achieving this. William Hughes is an original songwriter. I have deliberately not referenced his ‘oblique’ lyrics in this review as I have not spent enough time with them yet and because to take them out of context would not do them justice. I myself would like to see the band gang up on him from time to time if you know what I mean but that is not a criticism.
If this band stay together, and I sincerely hope they do, they will provide us with something mind blowing sooner rather than later. In the meantime this is a splendid album.
Little Arrow online
Bubblewrap Collective online
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