Album Review: Dancing Hare - Matt and Carrie Lyons
Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 20 November 2014 Page Views: 3056
Reviews
Dancing Hare, or Matt and Carrie Lyons are a duet of folk guitar and violin, with spoken word. They met studying music at university and are members of the Order of Bard, Ovates and Druids. They write music "with a pagan perspective with respect to our past, present and future".They kindly sent us a copy of their CD entitled Dancing Hare. Matt and Carrie perform in a 'bardic' style which involves a lot of spoken word over the music. This means the words often don't scan very well - sometimes they just don't all fit and Matt gallops to get them all in. I found this takes a bit of time to adjust your ears to - initially it sounds really odd and quite jarring, until you realise that it's done as a deliberate storytelling style.
As you listen you start to realise the excessive wordery is sometimes done in a 'knowing', tongue-in-cheek way (or it seemed that way to me!), which adds some humour. Initially it sounds really odd but I suppose I'm just not used to this 'bardic' style of writing.
Lydia Burnham writes: Outside of the CD I liked the pretty art work of the hares on the front cover. I also liked the design printed onto the CD, it was really nice to have a photo of Matt and Carrie on the sleeve (see right).The first song The Will o the Wisp has a good folk atmosphere and feeling. I liked the melody and the lyrics have a clear story. I liked the soft dynamics.
The Raven - the speed of the lyrics are really quick, it made the song more interesting. A nice description of the bird through the lyrics and a good chorus. Also a lovely violin solo.
Stonehenge - A folksy song which would fit naturally as a good 'ol' camp fire song after a visit to Stonehenge. It's a sing along song with a good atmosphere, and I can imagine people waving their arms in the air.
Hallowed ground has a gentle rhythm with lovely acoustic guitar and flute duet. Very relaxing.
Dancing Hare - This track has more of a role for the violin, the guitar is in the background. Overall a good mixture of instruments. There's a catchy chorus, which is also memorable. Matt has a nice and calm spoken male voice - I thought it could be improved by adding a female vocal part.
Coldrum Stones - I liked the faster tempo, good strong guitar. peaceful violin. A louder vocal part.
Oak - A quieter song with a description of woodland life with a nice violin solo.
Fracking Hell - I liked the upbeat sound of including a drum. It made the song feel more uplifting. the message in the song is very strong and given with feeling. This is one of my favourites.
Another Atlantis - A relaxing song with a nice guitar pattern.
Circle Maker - An upbeat song, a dancing rhythm. Overall I think I prefer the second half of the CD, because it feels more lively.Winter Solstice (Alban Arthur) - A bit like The Verve, the music is grows bigger and louder, I love this song - a great way to finish the collection.
Review by Lydia and Andy Burnham
Dancing Hare, is available from Bandcamp for £8 as a digital download or £12 for the CD. dancinghare.bandcamp.com/releases
The band's main web site is at dancinghare.co.uk where you can hear more sample tracks.
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