Murder, and the Birds

David A Jaycock has previously collaborated with Marry Waterson and James Yorkston. This album is a dark, eccentric exploration of British traditional folk, inspired by a Victorian anthology called Ballads and Songs of Lancashire. ‘Lord Townley’s Ghost’, ‘Pendle Hill’ and ‘The Murderous Huntsman’ are given the Jaycock treatment: detuned acoustic guitar and occasional eerie touches of pre-digital synthesizers. ‘The Murderous Huntsman’ epitomises the sound; it is a dreamy gem of a track, reworked so as to no longer celebrate the hunter’s life so much as his death, leaving the animals and birds free from fear.

Half the tracks originate from Lancashire, half from other regions. Jaycock’s version of ‘John Barleycorn’ is musically rather uneventful and thus is an odd choice as an opening track. But things get more adventurous and more atmospheric as the album progresses. Jaycock’s melodic sense is very Beatlesque. Everywhere there are shades of John Lennon songs and the double-tracked vocals only add to that effect. Murder, and the Birds is a quirky, unsettling reimagining of traditional English folk.