Tiny Bard is the whimsical ode to Louise Patricia Crane's dear departed cat Bosco and the tall tales he would spin by way of an excuse for being out all night. Louise's enchanting vocals are backed by Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson providing his inimitable flute, King Crimson's Jakko M. Jakszyk on acoustic guitar & backing vocals, and Bosco himself on lead purring duties. Tiny Bard evokes Songs From The Wood by way of a Vashti Bunyan and Garden of Jane Delawney-era Trees atmosphere, which acts as a counterpoint to many of the weightier topics to be found on the Netherworld album. "Animals appear throughout my song writing on Netherworld" says Crane "just as they do in the Brother's Grimm fairy tales, which form much of its lyrical framework. When I had the whole concept in mind for the record I thought 'who better than my beloved cat Bosco, The Child, to be central character in the very first song I write for it?'""With a nod to a nursery rhyme I loved from early childhood; 'Pussycat Pussycat, Where Have You Been?', Bosco encounters some familiar Grimm's Tales characters such as Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel in his tall tales of derring-do". "Almost a year to the day that I wrote and recorded the demo for Tiny Bard, Bosco sadly passed away in my arms. This is my deeply loving tribute to him, and for anyone who has loved and lost a beloved furry friend".
Louise Patricia Crane. Photo Credit Carrie Davenport
Netherworld marks a considerable step onwards from the territory that Crane explored on her debut longplayer Deep Blue, crafting audial landscapes that go further into both inner and outer space; hallucinatory and surrealistic yet also grittier and more direct. For all that this stemmed in part from early Genesis and The Beatles, Netherworld also sits in alignment with the luxurious but oddly intimate realm of modern classics, by the likes of Tears For Fears, Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell, with passionate intensity set in a bold, cinematic vista.Musically, the widescreen sweep of these songs and their range of influences knows no bounds. As evidenced right from the outset, with first single Dance With The Devil which takes inspiration from Irish folk and mythology of her heritage to tackle her own self-destructive past head-on, amidst a fantastical panorama which can't help but evoke the transporting realm of Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love and The Sensual World. While the digital "b side" Toil And Trouble forms a disarmingly beautiful moment of sobriety on the album-taking its cue from Shakespeare in depicting the turbulent and often terrifying political landscape that Louise grew up surrounded by, in Northern Ireland. "Escapism I think is made all the more necessary or appealing when there are things in our 'real world' that we maybe shy away from, including things within ourselves" Crane explains. "In my case, I certainly recognise a part of me that romanticises that which is bad for me. The moth to the flame. It can be dangerous to be so fatalistic. It's forced me to think about nature versus nurture a lot in recent years - how much of that stems from an incident in my childhood related to the conflict where I grew up in Northern Ireland, and how much of it is just my nature? I knew that without confronting that part of myself I could never really get away from it. Before writing Netherworld I knew I wanted my songwriting to have an integrity and honesty I've previously skirted around, even if that meant facing truths and daring to show vulnerability. Dance With The Devil sets up the album with my opening Irish folk song; beginning with storytelling. I see the song as a statement of intent both lyrically and musically. The music draws on my lifelong adoration of Irish folklore and the poets I grew up reading. In relating to myself I also relate deeply to where I grew up, for better and indeed, for worse. William Butler Yeats summed it up wonderfully when he said, "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."
As if Hammer Horror reimagined Kubrick's Barry Lyndon in a surrealist dreamworld - the video for previous single Dance With The Devil marks Louise Patricia Crane's stunning directorial debut that bewitches and befits the lavish, panoramic scope she envisions musically throughout Netherworld. Descending to a twilit world echoing the poets, wraiths and legends of Irish gothic folklore; who better than Crane herself to guide us there. Exploring hedonistic self-destruction, Dance With The Devilis the battle we have with the darker parts of our own psyche.
As with the entirety of Netherworld, Crane co-produced Dance With The Devil with King Crimson's Jakko M. Jakszyk, who also lends backing vocals and a searing lead guitar performance throughout. Trad Irish musician John Devine elevates the mythology even further with his masterful Uilleann pipes, while another previous collaborator, Shir-Ran Yinon's captivating violin weaves its magic throughout. The rhythm section is a force of nature, led by Gary Husband on drums and Nick Beggs on bass guitar.Mercurial singer-songwriter & musician Peter Blegvad appears as a very special guest, lending his voice to 'The Wolf', the devil in our story.Yet, in as much as Netherworld is a work that exists on a lineage of progressive music and the visionary artists who've expanded their boundaries of exploration to form sound-worlds as big as their imagination, it's also a work of magical realism in the tradition of Pan's Labyrinth, The Company Of Wolves or the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami-in which the supernatural and otherworldly, lead to a shortcut to the essence of being human. In this World, Louise Patricia Crane is our Storyteller.
Netherworld is released on a variety of formats, including Double Gatefold Vinyl LP, CD / DVD Digibook (featuring a 5.1 mix by Jakko M Jakszyk and Deluxe Limited Boxset Editions.All are available for pre-order now at THIS LOCATION
