Think of small fishing villages in Essex and you don’t normally think of psychedelic alt rock bands but that is exactly where The Wicked Ravens hail from. It’s also where they recorded their latest album, In Search of a New Land; the studio consisted of an eight track in singer Fiona Harmon’s dining room! The result is the equivalent of being at a live gig, with the same raw earthiness and superb musicianship from Fiona and the rest of the band, Nick Munt (co-writer, with Fiona), Ophelia Mills and Stu Armitage.
Formed in 2015, Wicked Ravens have a sound all their own, albeit one that would fit right into the music scene of the late 1960’s – 1970’s and be among the best. Influenced by the likes of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin et al, In Search of a New Land floods the senses with alt folk rock combined with gutsy, raw blues, superbly finished off with singer Fiona, who possesses the rootsy versatility of Janis Joplin.
Before you read on, The Wicked Ravens are giving a FREE download of “Fallen Gods”, to Angry Baby readers. If you’re not already subscribed to Angry Baby, just pop the email address that you’d like it delivered to here and it will be on its way to you straight away, together with a bumper collection of music that has been shared by Angry Baby. The music comes from outstanding artists that you may not have heard before. With a mix of rock, pop, folk…you name it…there’s bound to be something new that floats your musical boat, and all for free! What’s not to like about that?!
The musicianship on this album, as already mentioned, is fabulous and shows the experience that all four band members have with live music. Although this is evident throughout, the track that showcases it the best is ‘Last Man Standing’, above. Listening to this, you can really imagine that all four musicians would play for hours just to be the ‘last man standing’ at the end of the night.
Recalling the heyday of psychedelic rock, ‘Fallen Gods’ expounds this from start to finish while ‘Crashing’, ‘Jazz Finger’ and ‘Witches of the Marsh’ combine psychedelia with a pulsing beat that drives the music on and adds something different to the sound. Folk rhythms and sounds are evident throughout this album, most notably on ‘Labyrinth’ and ‘Black Chord’ although these rhythms are very effectively mixed with the blues of the title track and ‘Broken Lands’.
In Search of a New Land shows us that good music can be recorded anywhere, even in someone’s dining room, so don’t let lack of access defeat your musical ambitions. The band’s advice for those aspiring to make their own music expounds this:
“Its easy to get down, thinking you are not getting anywhere…but every time you play an instrument or sing a note or engineer a tune…you are getting somewhere”.
In Search of a New Land was released in July 2018. Get your copy here.
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