You should never judge a book by a cover, or even a CD for that matter, but now and again an image can say so much about what you expect to find within. This is very true of Mostly Autumns third album "Last Bright Light". The cover shows a girl, reminiscent of singer Heather Findlay, drawn in the earth tones of the autumn and surrounded by fallen leaves. In fact the whole package contains sure a seasonal imagery and combine that with the track titles, which I will come to later and even the band name and you have already a certain image of the band without yet to hear a track. The whole just underlines what those in the know already associate with this band. Theirs is music that seems to have the spirit of the desolate English wilds running through them, the raw elements and some thing older and less tangible. This is pagan rock. That's pagan with a small "p". Those looking for songs about witches and spells, that seem to pervade some streams of rock music that cater for the Buffy generation, will find nothing here for them. This is the spirit of the Mother Goddess and the lore of the land personified into music and even when singing about less emotive subjects, those images are still at work. Although ever present in their previous albums, here they make a conscious, or otherwise, effort to be let those images and influences loose.
With what has become a signature opening for the band, a wind howls across as a mournful piano wanders through, a quiet start but soon we are up and running with "We Come And We Go". Brian Josh handling the main vocals on this one, a gentle guitar led passage builds into a dramatic chorus with the help of Iain Jennings keyboards that seem to pervade every available space with a range of sounds. The rise and fall of volume and dynamic that they handle so well helps to build and drop tension as required.
"Half the Mountain" typifies Brian Josh's writing and mixes the common imagery of love and landscape. A gentle song underpinned by flute and keyboard develops into a rock anthem and the build and structure of this song, and much of what the band does, has a modern classical feel to it. Bite sized symphonies for the modern age perhaps? By the time the song is heading for the finishing post, classical has been swapped for classic rock and in play out that and seventies progressive rocker would be proud off Josh throws us a grand guitar finale.
Heather Findlay takes centre stage now with her own "Eyes Of The Forest" an environmental ballad with a lilting acoustic guitar and a voice, which has become even more graceful and gorgeous since the last album "The Spirit of Autumn Past" By now her style can be seen as being in the same vein as that of Julianne Regan of All About Eve and there is much in common with the two singers and their bands. However just when you are starting to fall in love with the hauntingly rich tones of her voice, this short piece ends leaving you wanting more, a mere vocal tease, but there is much more to come.
Jennings opens up the next song with a take on Holsts "Jupiter" from the Planets, and you know that this much over used intro is going to spawn something big. It comes as no surprise as a whole wave of big rock sounds are unleashed with "Dark Before The Dawn" Josh rasps and drives with sheer emotion as Findlay soars above with a vocal counter point. Flutes carry the mellower interludes, guitars provide the power to drive the choruses, stadium rock maybe, but there is nothing clich here, just some fine and powerful interplays between the band. The music seems busy at times but it all seems to find its place and none of the instruments seem unnecessary.
In the Jennings penned "Hollow" again Findlay does what she does best. That voice cuts through and with its simple accompaniment of minimal piano, occasional electric guitar phrase the most basic of additions from the rest of the band as the song builds. As well as sharing some qualities with the aforementioned Ms Regan, there is a breathy Dido quality to her voice here. But where as Dido seems to have one vocal setting, lovely though it is, Findlay has a whole range of sounds on offer.
"Prints in the Stone," returns to a personal place for Brian Josh. The death of his father was a catalyst that started his journey that became Mostly Autumn, wanting to express his emotions through his songs. Remembering time spent exploring the mountains and hills of the Lake District with his father, the song is an up beat acoustic ballad with a typical change of tempo for the middle eight. Vocals are put to good use on this song, even bringing in Liam Davidson, usually confined to the guitar. And if "Prints in the Stone" seems to stay on a fairly balanced level, the following track "Last Bright Light" is all over the place, but in a good way. Its gentle opening is deceiving, building up with an almost Gregorian Chant in the background it rises and swoops in customary fashion, some times falling to the most minimal of guitar phrases and rising again to use every musician at hand to create a massive soundscape of a chorus, a chorus that gets slightly more impressive every time its visited. Bodhran's, flutes and recorders all add to this magical Renaissance meets modern mix and Josh's guitar still manages to steal the show in his play out.
"Never the Rainbow" is the most immediate song on the album, it is the most commercial and therefore by definition it is the least representative. But that is not to say that there is anything to fault it, it's just the band moving the boundaries slightly. Hammond organ backs a driven rock guitar sound and with Heather Findlay taking the lead, this song seems reminiscent of Pat Benatar with its uncharacteristically straightforward nature and less progressive structure. As if to show case the two extremes of the band "Shrinking Violet" another Findlay song is almost medieval in nature. Simple guitar work, baroque recorders and a wave of glorious harmonies are all that are offered up, and shows that the band can handle both the subtleties of the less is more style as well as the full on rock and roll delivery. Two instrumentals follow a feature that they use often on their albums as both singers are also multi-instrumentalists and therefore even when no vocals are needed, everyone still has a part to play.
The final song "Mother Nature" reinforces their pagan credentials a sweeping cry of emotion in the name of the spirit of the land, ever building to a dramatic and climactic finish. All the usual ingredients are in place, rich texture of layered vocals over big guitar sounds and flutes and keyboards weaving through the gaps. Building from a folk standpoint it suddenly changes its beat and launches into pure rock to close the album in a style not a million miles away from Marillion, remember them?
Mostly Autumn will appeal to a number of niche markets, progressive fans will appreciate the complexities of the songs and guitar work, folkies will like the subtler moments and the great harmonies and Pagans will love the lyrics and the overall love of the land that oozes from the album. There is an obvious reference point which is always used to try to describe the band, but I promised myself that I wouldn't mention Pink Floyd.damn.