London – Carry Your Kin is the debut album from The Breath, a new band from Manchester, UK that proves the old adage that opposites can attract. Guitarist Stuart McCallum and singer Ríoghnach Connolly arrive from quite different musical landmarks, yet combine splendidly on this nine-track collection with the able support of McCallum’s band mates from his Cinematic Orchestra days: drummer Luke Flowers and pianist John Ellis, plus bassist Robin Mullarkey. The album has been six years in gestation, and the careful crafting suggested by that time frame is etched throughout this thoughtful and often tranquil record. It is notably a genuinely collaborative effort with music credits given to band members and others, although Connolly is the key lyricist.
The stark beauty of the opening song “Harvest” is carried by Connolly’s emotively fragile vocal, an echo of Portishead’s Beth Gibbons here and there, and coloured by fulsome bass beats and increasing layers of guitar, keys and strings. Lyrically it’s a lament for the passage of time and a survival struggle as “golden light across the fields” gives way to a recognition in the chorus that “The land is not enough, enough to feed you.” The ambivalence comes from the variation of the key verb (leave, keep, defeat, feed, meet) in the repeated chorus line. A different dimension follows in the shape of “Antwerp,” as the singer exercises her melisma in a more robust folk-blues voice. The song bristles with poetic imagery of captivity and servitude.
“For You” is arguably the most beautiful piece on the album. Opening with gentle acoustic guitar and piano in the manner of a Country ballad, Ríoghnach Connolly plays with scattered images of family and home in a beguiling, almost seductive, manner. The additional guitar and percussion during the build stirs the emotional pot until the song resolves into a soft, hypnotic coda. Much of the album invokes a kind of dreamscape, which can leave an impression of the songs merging into each other. It’s easy to just get lost in the ambience and let the sounds wash over you, but Carry Your Kin is equally a record that reveals more as you delve into it. The reverie can be interrupted by bolder passages, such as the maelstrom of rock guitar and percussion towards the end of “This Dance Is Over.”
The album’s title track recalls the filial theme that seems to bind the album, and with it a sense of continuity, stoic struggle, and obligation. Musically, the stark piano and acoustic guitar alongside Connolly’s echoed, wavering vocals fit the contemplative mood perfectly. This measured and often restrained song cycle comes to a close with the politically charged “Tremelone,” built around a repeated chorus, with returns again and again in layered vocals and instrumentation. Connolly’s words flow in stream of consciousness fashion, while McCallum and band mates provide an anchor for her wilder imaginings; her rural roots are counterbalanced by McCallum’s urban domain. It adds up to an impressive album which is as much dream-like as cathartic.
Carry Your Kin is out now, via Real World Records. Find out more about The Breath by following the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Photo Credit: Emily Dennison
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Tony Hardy
Tony’s great passion in life is music and nothing gives him more pleasure than unearthing good, original new music and championing independent musicians. His association with Best New Bands brings great opportunities for this. He also writes for Consequence of Sound and is a judge for Glastonbury Festival’s Emerging Talent Competition.
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