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America's most promising dark folk act Harvest Rain returns with a second serving of deliciously moody and evocative "ghost folk" from the Old South.
Masters of American dark folk in theirs newest full lenght album. 11 beautiful songs, 42 minutes of haunting, atmospheric and melancholic music. No need to say more, as in case of Harvest Rain's music no special recommendation is needed! Simply great CD! Glossy varnished digipack with original cover designed by Michal Karcz and reproduction of Tor Lundvall's paintings inside.
Strange Fortune listener reviews are a free space to share your impressions of the music.
Michael J. Salo says on 9 May 2006
One of Strange Fortune's favorite releases of '05 was _Night Chorus_ by Harvest Rain. It isn't just that it was one of the "best" albums but also that it was one of the most promising and exciting. I've always believed the "neofolk" scene allows for vast creative possibilities, even if not all artists may be determined to take advantage. Here was a nice example of a neofolk act carving out their own distinctive sound – and a rare example of an American band doing so. Harvest Rain managed to deliver one of the first releases I've heard that clearly comes from the world of "neofolk" yet actually has an "American" feeling to it, where the tendency is to just sound imitative of the Europeans.
_Night Chorus_ wasn't a perfect album. Listening to it almost anyone could pick out ways the tracks might be further developed, improved or polished. In some ways it's like a demo, a really good demo. It seemed to lay the foundation for something new and great, and it's thus with anticipation I received the followup release, Harvest Rain's second proper full length, _Night's Glow_.
A few tracks into _Night's Glow_ it's clear what we have this time is... a sequel to _Night Chorus_. It conjures a similarly effective, soft, moody, haunted atmosphere. The music is a blend of acoustic folk and electronic "ghost ambient" ("ghost folk" we might call this). The songwriting seems to explore many of the same themes as last time. It sounds like it could almost have come from the same sessions. Production is on the rough side.
The artwork is attractive enough however the overall package comes across as somewhat low quality (packaging has yet to be a strong point for Harvest Rain). The sublime inside painting contributed by Tor Lundvall came out with a humorous glitch – Tor fans, see if you can notice what happened.
There's nothing wrong with offering two similar albums back to back. Death in June for one has been known to do this from time to time (for example Symbols Shatter/Rose Clouds). I would just say that if Harvest Rain were to follow with another release that's mostly the same then it could start to be too much.
I feel it's time for the next stage in Harvest Rain's evolution. I can't say what the next stage should be exactly, whether it's a shift in style, or adding new instrumentation or new collaborators, or just a step up in production level so we can better hear what Jason Thompkins has to say. This is of course all up to the artist to decide for himself.
Til then here we have for you another nicely listenable and enjoyable though unpolished recording of original "ghost folk" from the Old South that is just as good and recommended as _Night Chorus_.
pif242 says on 10 May 2006
While it is true that this album sounds a lot like the previous I tend to still be enthusiastic. First because the atmosphere created by the foggy guitars and the even foggier voices is simply sublime and also because aside from some re-issues we haven't really had many Neofolk releases in the last months at all so Night's Glow is welcome.
In noisier musical styles, the term Lo-Fi is now regarded as the latest hype. Even the dumb kiddie dark ravers at the last C.O.M.A. festival were saying Lo-Fi every two words...lol. Joke aside I like it myself. So if Harvest Rain has to be under produced and sounding Lo-Fi so be it. They sound great the way they are and most importantly they sound like nobody else. It took me some time to get into the previous album and now I can't get enough of it. With Night's Glow we find a band that has found its style and it's a fine one. All in all many bands I love only introduce minor changes from album to album (:Of The Wand And The Moon: for example) and still sound great and fresh every time. That's what talent is all about, and talent HR has.
The packaging now... There is really the area of improvement. The only redeeming feature is the Tor Lundvall painting (hey help me I can't seem to find what's wrong with it). I must admit I am pretty surprised of this mediocre quality, especially from War Office Propaganda who's always had the reputation of creating beautiful innovative handcrafted packagings (think Scontrum or Triumvire and their wooden boxes). Guys come on you can do better next time.
vespers75 says on 21 May 2006
Being a big fan of Harvest Rain, I would just like to say that this is yet again an excellent album. But I would also like to point out that many of these songs are older recordings, and actually pre-date "Night Chorus."
Michael J. Salo says on 21 May 2006
This is interesting news about this being older recordings in some part. As I understand _Night Chorus_ is also a sort of "compilation," with some of it going back a ways but you'd never know it, the liner notes offer little help here.
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