Accidental, The - There Were Wolves (Album)
At the risk of their heads exploding from far too many musical ideas flailing about inside, members of Tunng, The Memory Band, The Bicycle Thieves, and singer/songwriter Liam Bailey have felt the need or desire to find another place in the form of The Accidental to release the surmounting genius gathering in their talented minds. Or one of them just said, “Fook it, let’s sing some songs together”, to which the others responded, “Yeah, alright”. I’m sure it’s one or the other.
Their debut album There Were Wolves sounds like a happy ghost creeping around a child’s bedroom while they sleep at night, dusting the bookshelf and placing slippers under the bed. Male/female harmonies haunt for the most part around a simple acoustic guitar, soft bass hums, violin and rhythmic taps and claps that lift the songs a little farther above and away from the general folk feel expelled here. I’m mostly intrigued by the unique timbre of the main male vocals.
Opening track Knock Knock reminds me of paupers singing sadly on your rich Victorian doorstep with beautiful vocal hums and wonderfully delusional, hunger induced lyrics such as, “The fox in the attic has swallowed the moon, and every red doorway is bending to blue”. In general, the unique, inventive lyrics on the album seem to be tales of boys chasing girls who are far too clever to be got.
There Were Wolves is full of soothing folk styled mantras and silky harmonies that tug lightly at heart strings, while simultaneously placing a cheeky lyrical smirk on the listeners’ face. It’s a good thing that encourages cheerfulness and calm.
