Folk meets pop in new release, and pop comes out on top.
Sam Kelly’s new album “Dreamers Dawn” packs power into folk pop. It focuses on original songs, while not always achieving the same depth in the covers of folk classics. “Dreamers Dawn” continues Kelly’s collaboration with Jamie Francis. They co-wrote the original songs and jointly recorded and produced the album. Kelly sings and plays guitars and bouzouki. Francis also sings, along with playing banjo, guitars, octave mandolin, and bass. Kelly’s backing band, The Lost Boys, joins in with Graham Coe on vocals and cello, Evan Carson on percussion and bodhrán, Archie Churchill-Moss on accordion, Toby Shae on flutes, whistles and fiddle, and Lukas Drinkwater on double bass.
And what are the results of all this talent? “Dreamers Dawn” is a solid, well-produced example of pop-flavoured folk and folk-inspired pop. The latter is the stronger and more compelling. The album opens with the folk classic ‘The Bold Privateer’. For a romantic ballad this version is almost operatic, more like Trampled by Turtles performing the Pirates of Penzance then Stan Hugill singing fo’c’sles in a Cornish seaside pub.
The second song is the eponymous ‘Dreamers Dawn’, a Kelly/Francis original. It opens with a great banjo riff that kicks off a celebration of music festival-goers: “By the light of the stars, we gather like fireflies/Then rise up like valkyries, myriad into the dawn/To wage war on conformism monochrome/Trailing kaleidoscope colours.” It’s clear these music festivals of today are part of Kelly’s life, and he captures their spirit, the heartfelt emotion being expressed in both music and lyrics.
These first two songs set up the dichotomy that runs throughout the album. While all the tracks are well arranged and performed, the originals seem much more ‘authentic’ than the covers of traditional songs. The line between folk and pop has always been fuzzy, if not indistinguishable. Folk songs were always expected to entertain and moved back and forth from the parlour to the stage, from the broadside to the forecastle. With the advent of recording and the need to appeal to larger audiences, the distance between pop and folk became even shorter. The quest for authenticity during the folk revival of the 60’s was an attempt to make the line more distinct. But it really didn’t work. Pop artists recorded folk songs, and folk artists went electric. The real challenge became not whether a song sounds authentic, but does it sound sincere, does it have emotional depth?
“Dreamers Dawn” includes seven original songs and four traditional. In the original songs, Kelly addresses topics such as caring for a loved one with mental or physical challenges (‘Til Sleep Comes Calling’), the loss of an animal companion (‘Skye’) and toxic relationships (‘Snakes and Sermons’). In ‘The Old Deceiver’, he sings about the contemporary challenge of populist nationalism. And ‘In the Cold’ and ‘In the Dark’, he writes about humanity’s place in the cosmos. All these songs convey a sense that Kelly personally experienced or felt deeply about the subject. This gives the songs a depth that takes them closer to folk than pop. The traditional songs on the album seem headed in the other direction.
Along with the ‘Bold Privateer’, the other traditional songs are ‘The Gallows Pole’, ‘The Lincolnshire Poacher’, and ‘The Dark Eyed Sailor’. This version of ‘The Gallows Pole’ is energetic, but while Kelly puts emotion into his rendition, the band’s harmonies soften it. It doesn’t match Robert Plant’s desperation in the Led Zeppelin version. ‘The Lincolnshire Poacher’ is driven by a heavy drum and bass line that expands to include the whole band, including some great fiddling and guitar. Kelly’s voice hits just the right note of outlaw insolence. The album ends with ‘The Dark Eyed Sailor’, which is probably the best of the four traditional songs on the album. It is more melodious, more a waltz than a jig, and Kelly sings with a gentleness that matches the story of the love song. But it isn’t as expressive as the rendition by June Tabor and the Oyster Band.
Overall, “Dreamers Dawn” is a delight, the best being the Kelly/Francis original songs. May their next outing be all their own.
