Carbeth

Trembling Bells: Alex Neilson (drums).
The debut full-length from this English four-piece boasts a strong preoccupation with the English folk scene of the late `60s and early '70s, and blends harmonies imported from traditional English folk ballads with a restless spirit of experimentation. On "I Listed All of the Velvet Lessons," soprano Lavina Blackwell summons the spirit of the great Susan Collins while the band works up a fantastic organ-led drone behind her. Elsewhere the group dabbles in disorienting psychedelia, meditative, Bert Jansch-influenced guitar work, and Byrds-like vocal harmonies, making for an ambitiously eclectic album that manages to retain a distinctively individualistic sound while paying tribute to some of the most talented English musicians of the folk era.