Angharad Drake – Sword

I laugh when I think of how finding music these days is like searching for crawdads in Sewer Creek back in the old hometown. It seemed like some days the creek was empty of all life except water skippers, but when you started turning over rocks the creek came alive. Music is the same way these days. You have to do a bit of searching to find the good ones but, man, when you find them, it is well worth the effort.

I found Angharad Drake that way. I was in Bill Jackson’s pond and found Kate Burke and Ruth Hazleton and when I visited Kate & Ruth’s pond, I found Anna Cordell and Susannah Espie, and began to realize that the journey is just beginning. Drake has three albums, the latest which is brand new (Sword), the subject of this review, but her earlier albums, Lay Down (2013) and Swing (2014), are steps up the ladder as well. They are the biggest crawdads in Music Creek right now and I am thrilled to have found them. Seriously.

For one thing, I am going through this amplified folk/psych thing right now and Drake fits the bill. I don’t know what it is but my favorite albums of the past few months have centered on folk, psych, and pop, many of which are going to end up on my Best of 2015 list— Kate & Ruth’s Declaration, Susan James’ Sea of Glass, Winterpills’ Echolalia, to name only a few— albums which echo the folk scene of the sixties from which came artists such as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Gordon Lightfoot, and Randy Burns (I use his Evening of the Magician and Song for an Uncertain Lady as templates for the genre and the period). You can bet Sword will be there too.

If I had my way, all three of Drake’s albums would be on it. I mean, could I do that? Does it count if it is new-to-me and not just new? Because every one of them deserves it. Sure, you can hear a progression from one to the next, but in terms of presentation and not in terms of quality. I mean, if you had no idea the others existed… you know?

I think in terms of pure folk, Lay Down has it, the songs a window to Drake’s soul. The production straightforward and simple, the accouterments minimal, the voice beautiful in its apparent ease. The backup is mostly guitar and maybe dulcimer with the occasional piano and harmony vocal to flesh things out. First time I heard it I was enthralled, especially with “Gone,” a slightly upbeat but smooth pop/folk number about the complicated nature of relationships. An excellent example of a self-contained song standing alone, nothing else needed.

Swing continues the folk but Drake adds a bit more pop to the mix and I am thankful for it. She has an excellent way with melody and harmonies and enfolds fifties and sixties pop and folk, whether she realizes it or not. Especially on “Gun,” with its pop sensibility straight out of the late fifties, and “Meddling,” which could have been a showstopper in the late-sixties and early-seventies. The lyrics, Boss, the lyrics…..

Sword is a step further, but not that far. The songs are a bit more developed, the instrumentation (or maybe the sound of the instruments) more progressive with more of a band feel, especially on the title track, the beat shuffling, the time signature varied, and the harmonies developed more than her earlier works. Perhaps it is the recording or the mastering, but the voice is more upfront. And the songs… Drake proved herself a more than competent songwriter on the first two albums but she steps it up here, the reserved voice giving way to a confidence only hinted at before. Which is as it should be. Each album, it seems, is a microcosm, fitting the time in which it was written. Come to think of it, isn’t that the way it is supposed to be? And pretty much is?  

Three outstanding albums, if you lean toward the acoustic and folk side. All found because of Bill Jackson. If you doubters still say that there is no good music anymore, you are delusional or dead. Try turning over a rock now and again. Try slipping a little Angharad Drake into the CD player or maybe adding a couple of tunes to that damn smartphone you’re always looking at and listening to. Couldn’t hurt. And the music you will find…..

By the way, sports fans, she’s from Brisbane. No, not Ohio! Australia! That should be an incentive in itself. Lots of good music down under. Start with Angharad Drake, then start turning over rocks.

Music available from Angharad’s Bandcamp page.  Click here.