Canadian duo defy genres and logic
We’ve written on this site just recently about plenty of duo’s. Indeed, we’ve written of our respect and admiration for your twosome because – like MV faves The Picturebooks – they generally don’t sound like any other band.
Harrow Fair prove that statement to be true yet again.
The bare facts are simple: Harrow Fair is a collaboration between Miranda Mulholland (Great Lake Swimmers, Belle Starr) and Andrew Penner (Sunparlour Players), but if that is straightforward, then what they do on “Call To Arms” is anything but.
The eighth songs here – there are a couple of instrumental pieces, including the sound of a pig auction at the place that gives them their name – begin with “Hangnail”. Best described as primal country, it combines Mullholland’s sweet vocals in one verse, Penner’s in another and adds some fine harmonies too kick drums and some mournful violin. In common with many here, it sounds on paper like it shouldn’t work, but on vinyl it really, really does.
“Hangnail” also features a line that sums up the ethos here. In the hook they sing “if pleasure is the habit and pain is the comfort, then what are you…..?”
That vibe of not knowing permeates right the way through. An adaptation of Hank Williams’ “Told A Lie To My Heart” for example is so fragile it feels like it could shatter at any second, while “I Will Be Your Man” has a kind of rootsy feel, with just the vocal back and forth and percussion for most of it.
A couple of songs in the middle really capture both sides of “Call To Arms”. When they feel like being gentle, HF really come into their own. “Held Tight” is gorgeous, but this is followed up by the rabble-rousing title track, which approaches hoedown territory.
A short record, nothing here is an epic. Perhaps the slowest burner, though is the beautiful “How Cold” with its Celtic overtones, while the acoustic “Emmaline” is augmented by some fine violin, as the pair combine superbly.
“Bite The Way”, one of the few to feature Penner predominately on vocals, has a bluesy air and there is the feel that it could cut loose when it choose to. “I made a dinner and invited only sinners” he sings, as again they suggest that if you peel away the surface there are many layers to what they do.
The closing “Been There Ways” is a more widescreen affair, with its evocative imagery and strange sound. Indeed in many ways – although gentler – it brings things back full circle. Like the opener, it is an odd collection of disparate sounds, that required real skill to bring together.
Harrow Fair managed to pull off this feat with some rare ease and this is very much their call to arms.
Rating 8/10
