Approaching this feature is always really difficult; starting from a position of identifying someone that the wider world doesn’t know well enough and that their lives would be enriched by, if only they had a wider musical knowledge. That’s almost a definition of patronising intellectual elitism, isn’t it? The kind of thing that can make a writer feel a need to justify themselves before launching off into describing their choice. And really it’s a label that could be applied to almost anyone who appears on Americana UK; think I’m exaggerating? I’ve genuinely had conversations about having been to see Crosby Stills & Nash that touched on their previous bands; the Hollies, Buffalo Springfield and even The Byrds, completely unknown; we finally found some common ground when I tried, unsarcastically, “have you heard of The Beatles?” It’s also probably a mistake to assume that every visitor to Americana UK has taken the time to go back and read every review, every feature and to listen to every track and watch every video that has ever appeared on the site (and its predecessor incarnations). If you get a very wet weekend at home then that’s definitely what you should do though.
So, justification complete: Charm Of Finches are the Australian duo of sisters Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes who, by dint of starting really early, already have four full albums to their name despite being in their early/mid twenties. How early? Well, their debut EP was a school project when Mabel was 14, and Ivy just 11, and their first full album followed only two years later. Their sound is definitely in the folk realm, but they bring in quite dark topics sometimes explored through the guise of folklore and fairy tales, as well as “confessional” songs drawn on romantic involvements and the travails of the travelling troubadour life. There also seems to be a heavy influence of artists such as Kate Bush, borne out by their occasional covers of her songs when gigging. Their stage presence reflects all of this with a sense of the arty crossed with the fairy tale in their clothing – the videos below show their penchant for vintage clothing and dressing up.
Both Mabel and Ivy are multi-instrumentalists, and even live as a duo; their songs regularly feature keyboards, guitar and violin, and a lot of sibling-based back-and-forth banter. They sometimes, humorously, make out that there’s a friction between them, and this carries over into their accomplished video-making, where Mabel quite often appears to be killing Ivy. But it’s all in good fun. It’s a feeling that’s perfectly captured in songs like Middle Of Your Mess, which opens by addressing social doubletalk with “‘You look happy’ means I wish you were sad / ‘Oh hey it’s nice to see you’ means get out of my house” ringing very true. And then there are songs like Atlantis, which are the pure definition of dreamy.
Most importantly, though, is that the music is sublime, helped by the perfect harmonisation of their voices, and the songs are memorable and unlike anyone else currently active on the scene. Favourite songs are too numerous to list, but there is a general consensus that their most recent release, Marlinchen in the Snow, is their best to date.
And a great thing is that for this year (and maybe this year only) the sisters have taken up residency in Scotland as a home base for touring, writing and recording, so there should be (probably) a lot more opportunities to see them live in the UK and the rest of Europe and Scandinavia in 2026.
