Furnace Mountain

Never judge a CD by its artwork: What you see is something that looks like it should sound like a Sufjan Stevens or Iron and Wine record. What you get is something that sounds quite like neither. Not that Furnace Mountain are entirely removed from the land of Sufjan, one suspects they may share a few of the same old, scratched up vinyls between their respective record collections, but let’s face it, Steven’s apple fell a pretty long way from the tree, where as these guys are the roots!

So, here we have a beautifully packaged album of crisp, honest, straight up old time music... no frills, no pretence – it is what it is and if you don’t like it, you know what you can do, ‘cause it ain’t changing for no one! Led by the softly wavering. But earthy voice of Aimee Curl (the singing bass player), the album respectfully weaves together a number of world-weary, mournful songs and somewhat more upbeat instrumentals (which honestly feel a little like the poor relation when set against far superior songs of jarring gravity). Highlights include the stunning, emotive “Bad Girl” and the off kilter, yet heart-melting “Ooh Belle”.

This probably would have been a very impressive ep had it been distilled down to a few key songs. As it stands it’s a lovely album, but perhaps lacks the impact it could have otherwise had.