MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST Jon Boden has created a nightmare vision of an England shocked to its core by an undefined apocalypse in his latest solo project – a folk concept album no less.
Wild dogs roam a pallid plain littered with rusted barbed wire and burnt-out cars. Ravens watch as curfew bells toll and survivors seek sanctuary on deserted motorways. Such images are dressed up in delicate acoustic filigree, punctuated by grunge-like percussion thumping out hints of doom.
Boden, already venerated for his work with the folk big band Bellowhead and the duo Spiers & Boden, has crafted his own version of The Waste Land – his singing restrained and his arrangements sparse to suit the bleak mood. But there is optimism too, thanks to Boden’s belief that England’s glory lies in its music. For example, he sets the song Dancing In The Factory to an evergreen traditional tune, Beating The Bounds celebrates English dance, while Under Their Breath hints at joyful rebirth.
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