Edgelarks is an English folk duo consisting of Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin. For years they went by their two names, but eventually “Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin” started feeling like a bit of a mouthful. They renamed themselves as Edgelarks in 2017 and released their fourth album eponymously using that title.
Feather is their second studio album released as Edgelarks, and their fifth studio album overall. In addition, they have several side projects going, most notably joining Peter Knight (of Steeleye Span fame) in the six piece Gigspanner Big Band.
Edgelarks quickly became the darlings of the folk scene when they first emerged, winning numerous awards from 2013 onward, including BBC Radio 2’s “Best Duo” award in 2014, with nominations several times since. Their natural down-to-earth charm and very likeable demeanour helps, but their fresh approach to music is really the clincher.
Their writing follows the same stem of originality. Very much creating music by their own approach and on their own terms, they usually lock themselves away for a while and spend time creating material based on the concept they have in mind.
This time, they locked themselves into a rural English cottage for a month and in their own words, came back with “stories of kindness, solace, rest and welcome. Songs to sing against sadness, loneliness, and the erosions of time. Songs of the hills, of wild rain and sunshine, and of the circles of all things. Songs for tired hearts, troubled minds, and soulsick wanderers. Songs of hope. Bright songs for dark times.”
They use well-known folk instruments such as fiddle, viola, banjo and acoustic guitar, but also add less common ingredients such as bluesy lap slide guitar, Indian classical slide guitar, shruti box, dobro, weissenhorn and chatturangui.
Phillip’s intense harmonica playing deserves a mention. He comes up with parts that combines country, blues & folk styles with beat-boxing to create a new harmonica sound which is still heavily steeped in tradition. I can guarantee you that my description of it does not do it justice.
The duo’s music has always been built on a foundation consisting of one half tradition, one half progression. They come out of British traditional music, but describe themselves as “world music” as they take inspiration from anywhere and add it to the mix.
Musically, this album does not kick down your door and demands to be heard. This is an album that creeps in when you weren’t looking. The sounds on it are often quiet – tentative, even – but still have an insistence in the performance which is also being enforced by the lyrics.
This album is balm for the soul, and I’d like to think that if you open your heart to it and give it a chance, you won’t regret it.
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