On receiving this album through the post, Departures can only be ordered from the Dead Pilot Records website, it is clear to see that Message To Bears is going to be a band that create wonderfully crafted music.
New British Music
The album comes wrapped in crisp brown paper all tied together with string. Inside is a wonderfully rustic and personal sepia photograph of a 1950s lady standing proudly in her garden dressed in a superb fur coat, and pet dog standing aside her to boot.
It’s the kind of snapshot that you might expect to find hidden away in the loft of your grandmother's attic; a little treasure hidden away, but certainly not forgotten about. The photograph is much like the band. Message To Bears are a wonderfully cherished band tucked away in a corner of Oxford, who have grown to prominence in the area through word of mouth.
Message to Bears is the work of 24 year old Jerome Alexander whose debut album completely rejects all the commercialism of Britain's current indie music scene.
First and foremost, it would be unfair to label Message To Bears as an indie band. It is deeply rooted in folk, yet the album, and the way the songs are crafted, sound more like if Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky swapped electric for acoustic.
A multi-instrumentalist, he lists the instruments used; “acoustic guitars, pianos, glockenspiels, samples, drums, loop pedal, melodica, toy piano, harmonium” and seemingly rather coyly at the end: “voice”.
This final ‘instrument’ was not one used on the self-titled EP that preceded this release, but it is a welcome addition to the band’s sound that brings to mind the vocal work of artists such as Peter Broderick and Bon Iver’s more ethereal tracks.
Soundscape
On the other hand, Message To Bears are not keen to rely upon impressive vocal acrobatics like many contemporary folk bands in order to give credence and imagination to their music.
Sorrowful sounding string compositions sit deftly on top of tender piano pieces and delicate guitar melodies that are beautifully finger picked by Jerome. Interesting drum loops (one achieved with the taping of typewriter keys) nod to influences wholly outside of folk music and sound more like the folktronica of bands such as Tunng, as do the quaint recordings of children scuffling about a schoolyard which perfectly evoke the simplistic innocence that extrude from many of Jerome’s songs.
This album, however, is not without its edginess; from time to time the sorrowful strings become aggressive and generate stormy soundscapes within songs, such as ‘Pretend to Forget’. Those familiar with Godspeed You! Black Emporer will see similarities in the way that the songs unfold, albeit with much shorter tracks.
This is where the brilliance of Departures comes into fruition; the evocative sounds of old folk are penetrated with more menacing, modernistic sounds and styles that realise the genres deviation from recognised 20th century folk.
Modern Folk
With the traditional elements of folk music quickly becoming more industrial and contemporary, Departures is a timeless piece of music that stands anxiously, yet defiantly, at the crossroads that modern folk currently finds itself. Message To Bears are both looking back in history to the great acoustic music of the past, whilst remaining progressive, with eyes fixed firmly on the future.
The term Prog-Folk may seem a bit ostentatious, but with all pretentions well and truly stripped, Departures fits the bill perfectly and you get the feeling that the best is yet to come.
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