TRANSIT RIDER

FF's latest album is a weird concept album of Dawn McCarthy's experiences in the subways and trains (and the its side world or stations and corridors) of America and was worked into a theatre show in 02. This nice digipack with an inspiring outside naïve green artwork and an eerie urban photo on the inside is a mix of this theatre play evolution (the duo-written sung pieces), a bunch or train- related bruitage/tapes, mixed with a bunch of covers, ranging from the trad House Carpenter to the Belgian Soeur Sourire (wonder how on earth she ever heard of this embarrassing drivel) and a few original tracks written with the McCarthy family.

The duo gets some help from a few guest musos, but overall and once more they get the huge majority themselves. Flute, vibraphone, trumpet, violin, cello, clarinet and glockenspiel also make the odd appearances, as well as SGM's Rathburn's bass. From the albums I heard so far, this is truly their most adventurous and maybe the first to truly deserve their inclusion on this site. Indeed their Wyrd/pagan folk rock is definitely taking a progressive twist (already hinted with their previous release), but this is mostly due to its strangeitude than the usual prog traits: complex arrangements, lengthy instrumental play etc. you'll find few or none of these here. But you will find a sometimes-delicious folk rock realm that most of the progheads like, even sounding at times like Woven Hands, the 16 Horsepower offshoot. Vocally Dawn sounds like Dagmar Krause and Robert Wyatt's daughter and her vocal duet with Nyl's voice makes a good duo of folk voices, much like in the glory days.

This album is definitely the duo's better album (as far as a proghead can be concerned) and its disturbing eerie aura will intrigue a few gothic music fans as well as the usual Wyrdheads. Not far away for being essential, especially those with "folk" affinities, this is the kind of album that cannot be played anytime and anywhere. It really does take its sweet time to sink in and once it does, even then this will not be a regular anytime spin.

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