The Willows
Album: Beneath Our Humble Soil
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://thewillowsband.co.uk/

I first saw The Willows when the played the opening night at Cambridge Folk Festival a couple of years back. I was really impressed and offered them a slot on the Spring 12 Fatea Showcase Session in anticipation of their debut album. Unfortunately the music industry can be a fickle mistress and for a number of reasons that release ended up getting delayed. The good news is that "Beneath Our Humble Soil" is now out and it's been worth the wait.

The year has not been wasted, The Willows have taken the opportunity to integrate themselves further into the folk(rock) communities, including a number of recording projects, such as the latest Dark Britannica compilation, "Hail Be you Sovereigns, Lief and Dear".

The five piece bring a multi guitar, multi vocal approach to their music with fiddle and percussion adding to the richness of the sound. One of the first thing that hits you is the quality of the vocals, the next time someone mentions that all the best harmonies are blood harmonies, The Willows are a band to offer up as evidence for the defence.

The Willows have delivered an album of strong songs and whilst there are references to bands that span the folk rock/folk pop generation, such as The Trees, All About Eve and Ruby Blue, there is something about the way the band construct their songs that gives them a distinct and memorable edge.

As well as performing, the band are responsible for both writing and producing the album, though the production is in collaboration with Stu Hanna, a man well used to working with rich harmonies and who also picks up co-writing credits on three numbers.

There is so much to recommend "Beneath Our Humble Soil" and it's more than the total of the sum. You can put the same components together and get very different results, what is difficult to define is that certain something, the panache. The Willows have that panache; the way they bring together the words, the harmonies, the instrumentation gets you right where it matters, in the heart and in the soul.

Neil King