Independent folk artist Mark Brichall recently self-released his new album, Home Recordings (2011-2013), which is for sale via his website, markbirchall.com. The new album is the second in an on-going series of sonic scrapbooks in which he compiles and collects his various home recordings that were written, performed and self-recorded in his home studio located in Liverpool, England; it is the follow up to his well-received debut album, Home Recordings (2007-2009). Birchall’s experimental sound incorporates spoken word samples, field recordings and the unique sounds of many different strange folk instruments such as the diddley bow, jaw harp, ocarina, gope, autoharp and various African hand drums. He further expands his sound to include everyday household items like, bottles and cans and pots and pans to great measure. His soft-spoken voice gives way to understated folk-pop melodies that hover just above the intriguing instrumental arrangements that combine to create a dynamic world of lushly layered soundscapes meant to get lost in.
The album opens with “Meikron’s Blues” which is outfitted with jaw harp, a stomping beat that includes clanging glass bottles, and some sloppy blues guitars as Mark trades off vocals with spoken word samples. His sound is most reminiscent of the fractured folk of Califone and Modest Mouse’s forays into folk. “All The Birds Started Singing” follows with a heavy, grungy blues rock riff and driving percussion that dissolves into quieter passages with a bittersweet vocal melody before launching back into the riff again. The chaotic instrumental, “Warmongers” sounds like a recording of a back porch jam session with the television left on in the other room set to the news channel with bomb blasts and news reports interspersed with folksy guitars. Next, “Saint Tudno’s Cave” is a pastoral folk tune where swelling harmonica melodies and cyclical acoustic guitars set the scene for a tale written about a helpful 6th century monk and the cave he inhabited in Llandudno, Wales. “Flowerfield Missionary” is built upon a jittery, percussion-heavy rhythm along with sliding guitar melodies, ukulele and sun-soaked Hawaiian-inspired vocal melodies.
Now, much has been made of Anne Frank and her diary written during the Holocaust but with his song, “Rutka Laskier”, Birchall pays tribute to the young Polish girl (the song’s namesake) whose diary was found under a staircase in Poland just a few years ago – with hushed vocal melodies, bits of Polish dialog, old world folk charm and powerful and moving lines like, “skin and bone as the future started falling all around her, all alone in the pages of her journal when they found her”. The more upbeat “Living On The Run” is highlighted by female guest vocalist, Diane Sweetman whose hauntingly beautiful Gillian Welch-like voice gives the standout track a lift alongside some twangy acoustic guitars and rebellious lyrics. “It’s A Dog Eat Dog World” features tinny banjo strumming and pinging-ponging melodies over top of a shuffling beat and the album’s catchiest and most humorous vocal lines. Another standout, the much too short “Tal y Fan” is highlighted by a staggering, piano-led ragtime rhythm and elastic guitars along with haunting female background vocals for a strange little tune that I kept listening to over and over. The ten-song album closes out with another instrumental piece; the aptly-titled “Dreaming Backwards” with its warped reversed samples that float like ether from your speakers and create a dreamy and introspective mood.
With the latest installment of his Home Recordings series, singer-songwriter Mark Birchall has crafted a very interesting and engaging collection of songs that are surprisingly cohesive despite the album’s title and shares with us his distinct brand of fractured folk with all of its strange instruments and immersive imagery.
Reviewed by: Justin Kreitzer
Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars