Last Updated on December 21, 2023
One of the joys of working my way through the Pitchfork list of the best 50 albums of 2023 is that when I press play I never know what’s going to come out of the speakers.
I deliberately don’t look up the band before listening, so if I don’t know the name, I’m making assumptions based on the cover art. Which is titchy on Tidal.
I was expecting something ambient from Blue Lake. What I got was more akin to the souped-up folk of Pentangle. It sounds great. If this is folk, which I’m yet to figure out, then this is the sort of folk you can play to someone who thinks folk is all about the ‘Hey nonny noonny’.
The guitars, lyres, harps, or whatever-the-hell-that-sound is drip and drizzle around the melodies. The sound is bright and welcoming, like waking up to sunshine after days of dreary drizzle.
When I refer to this type of music as being ‘souped up’, I mean that the production is lush and modern. I heartily approve of very modern production values. Music evolves by moving forward, and any folk bands who strive to sound like they record in a dusty barn with a hollowed-out shrew as a microphone might be missing that point. I feel the same way about the Black Metal equivalent – ‘Kvlt’.
At the time of writing, I’ve made it as far as the fourth track on ‘Sun Arcs’, and we’ve not had any vocals yet, which is fine by me. There is a filthy bit of double-bass bow work on this track that I love.
Blue Lake have a sound that is gentle, but not passive. Nothing booms, nothing is out of place in the mix. And yet the pots and pans in my kitchen are vibrating. I know this because I couldn’t place the percussion I was hearing in one of the tracks, until I realised this album had turned my kitchen into part of the performance.
I hate implying that any music should be considered as being perfect as background music. But Sun Arcs by Blue Lake is the perfect album to book a Sunday roast to. Especially if you’re feeling a bit sad. This album is like a loved one draping an arm over your shoulder and giving you a wide smile. We are going to be okay, and things are going to get better.
This is an album for people who want some salve from the modern world, but can’t stand all that whale noise hippy-crud. This is modern folk, for a modern world. It’s CBT that can be administered via your ear ‘oles.
