Description
Glasgow fourpiece Trembling Bells release their third slice of Caledonia dreaming, following on from the acclaimed Carbeth (2009) and Abandoned Love (2010).
From its very first notes, The Constant Pageant flies the flag a banner of arms with a more confident, anthemic sound than ever before. Trembling Bells are twentyfirst century troubadours who know their history, on a quest to connect with the core tradition of Song, and live deep within its mysteries. Medieval ballads, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are amongst the guiding lights in a music that embraces British folkrock, American roots and electric psychedelia.
The album title pays tribute to folkloric culture as omnipresent in my thinking, and a source of personal joy and affirmation, says the Bells Alex Neilson. A kind of florid, seething, creative wellspring that taints everything I do. Though, with this collection of songs, there were a number of other influences too. I think of traditional folk music as being like my first serious girlfriend, and all subsequent dalliances with other forms have been indelibly affected by it.
Its a record of windswept bitterness and joyous elation: Cold Heart Of Mine is a paean to embattled lovers written in the shadow of Veronas ancient amphitheatre; Where Do I Go From You? and Torn Between Loves describe doomed romance, dramatized by Mike Hastingss screaming fuzz guitar. Theres also a strong sense of place. Neilsons native Yorkshire is the setting for Goathland home of folks first family, the McCarthyWatersons (not to mention the BBCs Heartbeat) and Otley Rock Oracle, in which a small Yorkshire market town is reimagined as a place of dead roads, where severed golden heads and cauliflowerclouds clue in a young adept. Classical and Early Music come to the fore on Colour Of Night in which a medieval feast seems to be taking place behind the songs stately gavotte and the melancholic closer, New Years Eves The Loneliest Night Of The Year, a tribute to favourite modern songwriters like Gordon Jenkins, Nelson Riddle and Hoagy Carmichael (with a cheeky aside about stolen Roman marbles).
The Constant Pageant is a rhapsodic celebration of the power of Song, from one of the UKs most eclectic and inventive groups.
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