IT’S BEEN all of eight years now since Cambridgeshire post-folk collective Fuzzy Lights have graced our ears with an album, that being Rule Of Twelfths; but the planets have aligned favourably for such a sonic missive and, scrying the near future, their fourth album of atmospheric acid-folk, Burials, will be handed down to us come July 2nd.
The announcement of that record comes, necessarily, with a first reveal, the mists parting to show a path deeper into the tangled underbrush, and presenting as the pine-perfumed grace of “Maiden’s Call”, the video for which you can watch below.
Singer Rachel Watkins drapes her otherworldly vocals over a tune that owes as much to West Coast psych as it does to the English folk tradition; a slow psych bass figure, acid-folk guitars erupting after the slow, smoky build.
“Maiden’s Call is a song about loss.” Rachel reflects. “It was written shortly after I had a miscarriage and documents the time where you are attempting to come to terms with that loss.
“It also reflects upon the feeling of connection I found to the many women who have lived these moments in their own lives and the gratitude I felt for that relationship.”
Of the video she says: “We wanted to represent the theme of the song in a way that was not too overt, mixing together elements of ritual and tradition that are echoed in the lyrics.
“Here we are imagining a transition from childhood to adulthood that is tied to the earth, with the use of chalk facepaint and the deer’s antlers emphasising this connection.
“We had the extra challenge of creating a video during lockdown, so this became a family effort with our son happy to play a starring role.”
“Maiden’s Call” was premiered by Folk Radio, who had cause to cite Godspeed, Kikagaku Moyo and Dirty Three in their apprecation; me, I’m getting Trees, Espers, Jefferson Airplane. All great things, of course.
Fuzzy Lights’ Burial will be released by Meadows on July 2nd digitally, on limited CD and limited vinyl; you can get your order in now at Bandcamp.
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