Keston Cobblers Club
Album: Wildfire
Label: Tricolour
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.kestoncobblersclub.com

One thing you can say for Keston Cobblers Club is that they know how to do something a bit unusual when it comes to marketing their music. Their 'Scene Of Plenty' EP included a fold out/cut out mini train set while early purchasers of 'Wildfire' will be lucky enough to pick up a piece of handmade art. Quite an original concept and award them a gold star for their USP.

Original too in the way they've developed their sounds. Akin to what The Unthanks have done by orchestrating their folk roots, the Cobblers have similarly merged their folk roots with some nineties styled synths and added some big orchestral and vocal washes - what they've described as "a blanket of voices". Mind, it's nothing new to them. Julia Lowe has said that the Cobblers sound is still at the core even though the instrumentation has grown. Likewise, she's also commented that it's not so much a change in direction but more of an evolution (not revolution) - better to evolve than…erm…revolve, as Alan Partridge famously once said.

Matthew and Julia Lowe have taken care of songwriting duties and with an emphasis on light and shade both musically and lyrically, it swings and sways from one direction to another. The dramatic 'Laws' opens the album on a thoughtful and sombre note and sets the tone with a subtle yet distinctive brass vibe behind the arrangement and (almost) bookends the album with 'Sober' which Matt has called "the darkest song I've ever written." It contrasts wildly with the loose and lively front which the Cobblers present.

The lead track (what we used to call a single) is 'Won't Look Back' and isn't too far from what you'd expect from KCC. A case of easing the new material in gently. Acoustic guitar and the ping of xylophone notes and an uplifting melody and lyric referring to accentuating the positive all underpinned by a warm brass sound and an inspirational chorus.

The title track sounds like it could be an outtake from The Lion King - all bubbling synths and a tumbling drum pattern mark it as a song which pushes the KCC boundaries and all of a sudden you start to think Disney and how about a long shot punt on the Cobblers banging out the next Disney soundtrack? Having soundtracked advertising campaigns and had their music used as incidental backing on TV regularly, don't bet against it. On a more straightforward note, it's a song which deals with Julia's experience in overcoming her fear of fire. With 'St Tropez', 'Of Alarms' and the romp through the highly optimistic 'Half Full' it provides an positive and buoyant feeling

For all the suggestions that the sound of 'Wildfire' seems to be a new venture for the Cobblers, the album still has that organic homemade flavour, stemming from recording sessions taking place in a Devon cottage and the Lowe parents' living room. For anyone who thought wildfire was the luminous and highly flammable liquid which did for Stannis Baratheon's fleet at the Battle of Blackwater in Game of Thrones, think again. It's the sound of Summer 2015 as Keston Cobblers Club ripen their foot tapping indie folk-pop and head out on some live dates round the festivals and into Europe this Summer and beyond. But first watch out for the album launch at a secret woodland setting in Kent under the banner of the suitably titled 'Camp Wildfire' - immersing the music with a suitable aesthetic feel and if that's not a bit different, what is?

Mike Ainscoe