Call it what it is
Ben Harper
Keywords
Reviews (2)
Folk radio UK
d. 6. May 2015
By
By
Thomas Blake
d. 6. May 2015
"Lead track A Puppeteer Came Into Town mixes the occult and the political in a way that recalls Russell Hoban's dystopian novel Ridley Walker, with Andy Letcher's narrative skill and Jim Penny's deft concertina to the fore. It is made even spookier by the distorted Punch and Judy sound effects. Oxford May Song is a much more traditional-sounding affair, and its swift melody and stirring chorus are handled with aplomb ... The band dip into a renaissance sound on The Oxberg March, with results that compare pretty well with a touchstone in that particular field, namely The John Renbourn Group's 1977 album A Maid In Bedlam".
fRoots
2015 June
By
By
Steve Hunt
2015 June
"We've been eulogising this group's live performances for some time, but with this album they've brilliantly committed their essence to shiny disc ... Telling The Bees are an extremely smart batch of cookies (academics and published authors, don'cha know) but their clever, complex music is always utterly accessible ... They can do weird (Astrolabe) without being twee and rewrite lumps of tradition into original work (Oxford May Song) without being corny. They can tell fantastic stories (A Puppeteer Came Into Town) and create highly relevant new songs from existing poetry (John Clare's I Fear These Tory Radicals). They also know that "sometimes words are not enough" and unleash the kind of intense, euphoric dance grooves (Windflower) associated with fellow travellers Spiro - with whom, oh joy of joys!, they're appearing at Sidmouth Folk Week. Don't miss them".