A TREMULOUS, held guitar note, fed through fuzz and vibrato, with the raw quality of a wire fence shuddering in the wind; a darkly delicate piano arpeggio, as if remembered from the end of sleep. The tune has the quality of a haunted fairground under brooding skies.
And so we’re into the dark world of Fair Mothers’ “Harpy”, the first utterances from Fair Mothers’ forthcoming album, In Monochrome.
“I’m just trying to see the state of me,” imparts Kevin Allan, the man behind the Fair Mothers curtain, of the song’s autobiographical nature.
The accompanying short film is equally stark. All Ayrshire in monochrome and stepped-down exposure, it depicts a mysterious, violent killing: “A murderous road trip, which Adam [director and Scottish BAFTA winner Adam Stafford] inferred from the lyrics.” says Allan.
If it’s a DNA sample from Fair Mother’s second LP, In Monochrome, expect a lushly textured and hypnagogic folk journey. In Monochrome follows hot on the heels of Fair Mothers’ debut set, which only appeared in February on Edinburgh’s Song, By Toad imprint – also home to a fellow chronicler of the unmediated experience, David Thomas Broughton.
And it seems the darkness that imbues the music is both external and internal, as Allen details: “I have such a strong sense that it’s getting very late for us, or maybe just getting late for me. And it has to start with knowing myself. Because it’s principally me that’s lying to me. Christ knows why that is.”
The single, “Harpy”, is out this Friday, June 19th, and may be purchased at https://songbytoadrecords.bandcamp.com/ The album, In Monochrome, is slated for an August release, also from Song, By Toad
