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anyway.

General Winter, for my money is the highlight of the album and contains everything that the band does best. A thoughtful pacey song, great guitar riff, haunting distant keyboards and those unique harmonies and for once the subject matter is straightforward, winter. But being Blyth Power this is the winter of Georgian Britain, its churches, barracks and villages all being no match for the greatest general of all, General Winter.

"Then General Winter takes command
Swings me round again to the cavalry band
He snaps his heels as he proffers his hand
White-jacketed waiters line the walls
With sherry wine subdue the officer corps
As we circle slowly round the shadowy hall"

The opening to Sunne in Splendour sees the band at their most folk ridden and opens with an a cappella rendition of a seventeenth century poem of love and coyness before charging off in typical fashion in a veiled critique of the House of York's most recent export, the names have been left out to avoid lawsuits, the Sunne in Splendour alluding to the emblem of that once noble house and a tabloid newspaper. Stonehaven follows, a mad violin driven thrash, a song that was reworked to better effect for the following album, Paradise Razed. Vane Tempest and Pandora's People are typical Blyth stuff which I wont dwell on as I'm becoming conscious that the length of the review is running away with me, but I must leave time to extol the virtues of the final track, Stitching In Time. For me both one of the most simple and one of the best songs the band has produced. As a gentle acoustic guitar drifts into earshot, Josef narrates the story of the Greek army outside Troy, their ten-year siege and their decision to build, of all things, a giant wooden horse. It kicks into a mid paced jaunt with some spiralling bass work and a soaring heavenly violin as in hindsight the protagonists look back on the battles of their youth.

"In story now and song
Scamander flows along
Though the walls of the siege bound city have fallen down
And though our arms are red with rust
Still in a patient God we trust
So for a cause long forgotten until Kingdom comes around
We'll stand our ground"

The world depicted by Blyth Power is the one of the history books, and that is their main folk connection, in reality all sorts of styles and influences grace their songs, but above all it is a unique and challenging yet thoroughly rewarding album, with a charm and quality all of its own and an identity that screams of its birth place. A stitch in time to ward off vacuous Americana devoid of soul and passion? A finger in the dyke against the wave of bland musical dross? Maybe, but I'll be right behind then when the dam breaks.

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
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