One of the best parts of this gig is getting caught by surprise. It doesn\u2019t happen every day; the reality is that artists and publicists pay attention, and when you write a favorable review of an album that fits into a very specific style or genre, you tend to immediately get more submissions in the same style or genre. But the palate needs a break. There are reviewers out there who listen to and\/or review just one particular type of music, but I crave variety, and I love that moment of discovery when something outside my normal frame of reference grabs onto me and won\u2019t let go.<\/p>\n
The liner notes to the latest album to deliver that moment of discovery, Fernwood\u2019s Arcadia<\/i>, lead off with this simple declaration: \u201cAll music played by hand, on instruments made of wood!\u201d And that tells you a great deal about the esthetic at work with this album. It\u2019s an album of acoustic instrumentals played on an astonishing variety of stringed instruments, including Greek and Irish bouzouki, sitar, guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin, EBow, dilruba, charango, tampura, surmandal, dobro, upright bass, ukulele and more. <\/p>\n
The duo behind Fernwood, Todd Montgomery and Gayle Ellett, make deceptively simple music. There\u2019s rarely more than two things happening at once, and there\u2019s never any obvious effort to impress or display virtuosity. This album is all about mood and melody and creating natural sounds that warm the ears and stimulate the mind.<\/p>\n
Even lilting numbers like opener \u201cBelle Spring\u201d have a certain deliberateness about them; nothing is rushed, and the suggestion of contemplation is always in the air. Like many tracks here, though, both \u201cBelle\u201d and second track \u201cThe Pan Chaser\u201d build up a healthy head of steam over the arc of their four to five minutes. <\/p>\n
The addition of Indian accents (sitar, tempura, dilruba) on tunes like \u201cRed Hill Trail,\u201d \u201cOwens Hideaway\u201d and \u201cEscape From Sycamore Canyon\u201d add a subcontinental edge, a certain otherness. Interestingly, though, when the sitar steps out of the room from 1:45 to 2:25 of \u201cRed Hill,\u201d the duet that remains has an almost Celtic feel to it. \u201cOwens\u201d features a notably dense sound, with multiple stringed instruments plus what sounds like a harmonium playing interlaced melodies.<\/p>\n
Other tunes like \u201cCrossing The Divide,\u201d \u201cAfter The Sky Falls\u201d and the closing \u201cWinter Way\u201d take a more spare approach, with a tighter focus on two or three instruments and their conversations with one another. Here you find what feels like the heart of this album, and this esthetic: a series of calm, meditative, intricate, and at times very pretty instrumental moments.<\/p>\n
The jacket and interior photos on this album\u2019s packaging are all forest scenes, and the inset artist photo features Ellett and Montgomery wearing old country farmer hats while holding instruments and leaning against an old wood cabin. All of which is both in perfect sync with the vibe here, and somewhat amusing when you read the liner notes and find the album was conceived and recorded in Malibu. There might not be a lot of verdant glens around those parts, but there are plenty to be found on Arcadia<\/i>. It\u2019s an evocative little gem of an album, rich with beguiling melodies out of a nature-lover\u2019s dreams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":32408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9654],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-44167","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-fernwood","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44167"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}