An innovative electronica-infused approach to melodic Irish folk.
The upward trajectory of Belfast-based Joshua Burnside has been well-documented in the pages of AMA UK, such that many readers will be familiar with his brand of electronica-infused Irish folk. Each of those last four words partially describes the mesmeric and innovative music that this 35-year-old is renowned for, yet somehow the overall effect goes beyond such terms. Perhaps it’s easier to think of him as an idiosyncratic and globe-trotting individualist who captures the spirit of Nick Drake or Elliott Smith, both of whom Burnside would cite as influences.
Winner of the Northern Ireland Music Prize for his début album in 2017, Burnside burnished his reputation with airtime on BBC Radio 6 and an appearance at Austin’s SXSW in 2018. His travels have taken him from his upbringing in Comber, County Down to Colombia, Indonesia and the town of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, for which that first record was named.
On the back of a successful UK and Ireland tour, and with over a quarter of a million listeners streaming his work, ‘Teeth of Time’ is the first album in four years, though there have been single and EP releases in the interim. The gap may be explained by Burnside recently becoming a father, which in turn may explain why he feels this is his “happiest family of songs to date” although he points to fear and anxiety being prevalent throughout the collection.
‘Teeth of Time’ was written between Belfast and Comber, Donegal and Paris, and recorded in what the artist describes as his “unsound-proof studio” in Belfast city centre. Using ‘found sounds’ from the street, just as The Lovin’ Spoonful featured car horns and a pneumatic drill on ‘Summer In The City’, Burnside is a skilled technician and experimentalist who continues to provide all manner of surprises. As he puts it, “the sounds and life of the city and countryside, alongside that of my son, are all key parts and drivers of the tracks on this record.”
The title-track opens with snatches of what seems like an American radio announcer, over tension-inducing staccato strings, before a traditional-sounding melody is picked on banjo and guitar. Burnside’s vocal begins against this cocktail of sounds. It’s a compelling, distinctly Irish voice, as the radio continues and the strings build to a crescendo, then suddenly we’re almost dropped into a gentle and lyrical waltz-time folk song, ‘Mountain’.
If this serves as an introduction to the surprises, shocks even, that Burnside excels and delights in, we’re well-prepared for what follows. As he describes it, the album “is about the haves and have-nots, the lucky and the damned. It’s about being stuck in traffic with a hangover, and doom scrolling at 3am. It’s about trees as gods in the imagination of a child, about lands divided, and never-ending wars fought under the banner of capitalism.”
‘Up and Down’ has an appealing simplicity, like a nursery rhyme he might sing to his son while ‘The Good Life’ is a hypnotic air supported by a steady percussive tattoo. ‘Sycamore Queen’ starts with loud electronica, like bagpipes played through a fuzz-box. Unconventional but very effective, Burnside’s vocal combining with what could be a harmonium and fiddle in a sort of Wesleyan hymn.
‘Ghost of the Bloomfield Road’ could almost be an out-take from Nick Drake’s ‘Five Leaves Left’ and ‘Marching Round The Ladies’ is an ode to Belfast, Paris and Glasgow with an infectious rhythm and singalong refrain –
“Marching up the Shankill, marching up the Falls,
Doesn’t matter where you’re from, the Tories fucked us all”.
‘In The Silence Of’ grabs the attention with what sounds like a dusty stylus skipping across a vinyl record but it has a lovely banjo solo and mellow feel like that of the Canadian folk-rock trio Jon and Roy’s ‘When You’re Gone’.
Final track ‘Nothing Completed’ sees Burnside taking stock of his life to date and leaving the door open for further exploration, innovation and experimentation. ‘Teeth of Time’ is a demanding record, arresting at times, as was doubtless the artist’s intention. It’s clear from the large following that he attracts both on streaming platforms and at live shows that Joshua Burnside’s unique and creative approach to music is reaping rewards.
