A folk treatise on the climate emergency that sounds great too.
Released in the US and Canada last year The Fugitives finally get a European release, to accompany their jaunt over here, through Fallen Tree Records for the album wherein they tackle the climate crisis through its impact on everyday things; falling in love, friendships, career moves etc.. Essentially the things that make our lives what they are but under the shadow of the not only imminent but unfolding climate emergency and how it seems to be being ignored or worse still denied. This may give the impression that this is a fraught album full of portent and misery but fear not dear reader we are not in Sisters of Mercy territory here. There is a lightness and tightness to the instrumentation and the vocal harmonising that is a joyful and even playful in certain songs.
Opening with the acapella ‘No Help’ the stall is set out, a cry of desperation wrapped in beautiful harmonies. ‘It Might Just Rain’ is a melancholy ballad struck by shafts of light delivered by a frolicking fiddle. The fiddle of Carly Frey (The Coal Porters) is also key to ‘Story of Our Times’, dancing as it does over the plucked rhythm and urgent, poppy groove. The songwriters Adrian Glynn and Brendan Mcleod plough a traditional folk furrow in terms of instrumentation, acoustic instruments, delicate banjos, the aforementioned fiddle and there is a lack of percussion on most tracks but the songs have sufficient power not to require the full band sound. There are various short sound links with portentous titles such as ‘Impending Doom’ that add little to the pot but the power of the title track and songs such as ‘Advice’ cannot be denied. This is classic songwriting with a conscience.
