DRESSED IN VOICES

Mostly Autumn still wears the folk tag on this site because of their first few albums on which Celtic influences were quite obvious. These were represented by violin player Bob Faulds and flautist Angela Gordon and, at least to my knowledge, heavily supported by vocalist and lyricist Heather Findlay. Inbetween the folky tunes there were sweeping epics loaded with soaring guitar solos by mr. MA himself, Bryan Josh and some up-tempo rockier songs. I loved it; the first three albums made MA one of my all-time favourite bands. After the departure of Faulds and Gordon the folky influences start to disappear, culminating in their complete absence on this album. Instead we get a well-crafted concept album, based on a dark and brooding theme, with quite attractive tunes that all fall in the rock category. There's no folk to be heard and, which is even worse, I also miss the prog elements on this album. To my ears none of the songs even come close to their epic songs like 'Heroes never die', 'Evergreen', 'Pass the clock'. and, especially the genial 'The gap is too wide'. On former albums I have already wondered why mr. Josh and his companions wandered away from these kind of epic songs, replacing them by more or less 'normal' rock songs based on heavy guitar riffs instead of intricate flute or piano themes. That question is even more dominant on this album; the sublety is gone and for me the trademark of MA has therefore disappeared. Because of this I'm utterly surprised that 'Dressed in voices' receives so much praise on this site. Although there are some very nice songs here, with the last one being the high light of the album, I am disappointed in the direction that MA is taking. They are becoming just one of those bands while they were outstanding. Too bad, maybe better next time?