Black Doe also brings to mind what might have happened if Led Zeppelin had ditched Robert Plant and asked Sandy Denny to front the band in the aftermath of their otherworldly collaboration The Battle of Evermore.
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Black Doe fuses a surging riff worthy of Black Sabbath to wonky banjo and breathy vocals about encountering a deer in the forest. It’s as mesmerising as it is unnerving.
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Imagine a folk Black Sabbath with brass band accompaniment and you’re there. It’s an amazing sound that drags you in without mercy. Mary’s vocals are part sung, part sighed, contrasting with the Sabbs/banjo accompaniment. B-side “Lean” allows a funereal organ to underpin an emotive, almost spiritual vocal. I’ve never heard anything like this. More, please!
Terrascope: Terrascopic Rumbles
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Pretend you’ve put The Jesus & Mary Chain into a blender, sprinkled them with the remains of Fairport Convention, and consoled them with the hazy memory of festivals gone by. Then you’ve given them a tumbler full of whiskey and told them to buck the hell up or get out. That’s what Mary Epworth and the Jubilee Band sound like. They’re amazing. Trust me.
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Like a lost 60’s gem that’s just been dusted off after being forgotten about and primed for a new generation of ears. This sounds a little sleazy to me too, in the best possible way.
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So exuberant in its ragged glory that you would be very hard-hearted indeed if you weren’t moved to smile, to join its rutted rolling procession, its pilgrimage, its parade of smashing cymbals, shivering violins, clamorous voices and a horn section just roused from sleep, but game for the journey to Rome, to Damascus, Samarra, Mecca or simply the end of a cobbled London street.
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A beguilingly bracing slice of ramshackle woodland rustics, a pagan procession if you like festooned with a deep south funereal march like guile that’s been strangely relocated to the wiles of Wicker Man land. Described by Mary herself as a ’pub shanty’ this crafted relic from a forgotten musical heritage combines enchantment, mystery and a sweetly alluring charm of timeless reverie which if you happen to pass up on will result in you self administering repeat arse kicking routines from here till the next winter solstice. You have been warned.
Losingtoday.com
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A swooning oompah of a song. Fiddles flurry, backing vocals waltz and it’s all wrapped into a compact two minutes. Get a flagon of ale and get stuck in to it.
Lee Puddefoot- Artrocker
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‘The Saddle Song’ is a gutsy, everything-playing sea shanty that – like Zach Condon’s Beirut project – takes traditional elements of folk and gives them an invigorating kick up the arse.
Soundsxp.com
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“Mary looks and sounds as though she could raise the spirit of the earth all by herself – what a voice!”
Rock n’ Reel
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