Debut album from brother and sister duo, Painted Sky: Eleven flawless interpretations and adaptations of traditional themes.
Release Date: 22nd May 2024
Label: Gilded Lily Records
Formats: CD / Digital
Although brother-and-sister duo, George and Holly Brandon, aka Painted Sky, have been making music together for as long as either can remember, From the Blue is their first full-length album. Holly is probably better known as one third of transatlantic folk outfit, The Magpies, whilst George usually plies his trade as a solo performer. Be that as it may, with From The Blue, the pair – ably assisted here by Blair Dunlop, Fred Claridge and Evan Carson – provide a remarkable demonstration of the limitless potential of the traditional folk idiom. The album is an exhilarating mix of the duo’s own material – all of which adapts traditional themes and motifs to devastating effect – and their innovative interpretations of traditional songs and tunes. It’s an approach that works a treat!
George plays guitar and delivers the lead vocal, Holly is the fiddler and often chips in with some delightful harmony vocals and, whilst From The Blue offers plenty of clues of what the duo normally sound like, the contributions from Blair (banjo, electric guitar, bass and mandocello – he’s also the Producer), Fred (drums and percussion) and Evan (bodhran and percussion) often raise the bar to another level entirely. From The Blue is classic folk/rock at its most melodic.
You get the idea, right from the first bars of Devil Is The Sun, the album’s sprightly opener – a song with all of the ingredients that make this album so special. Composed by George, but easily mistakable as a traditional song, it’s electrified by Blair’s guitar and bass and Fred’s drums, before Holly’s violin provides a dreamy conclusion.
George and Holly don’t limit their influences to the music of the British Isles; they’re always willing to integrate themes from across the Atlantic or from Eastern Europe into their compositions and, with the instrumental medley Ktsat Savlanut/ Crossing The North South Divide, they show how well that open-mindedness pays off. Holly excels throughout on an enticing pair of tunes that seamlessly blend Eastern Gypsy jazz with Scottish traditional stylings.
George’s new tune is a perfect fit to the traditional lyrics of The Lakes Of Colfinn. It’s poppy, yet thoughtful and the full band accompaniment gives the song the appropriate gravitas, before another medley – The Three Tuns/Mrs Thom – provides a further dose of quasi-traditional fervour. The Three Tuns is George and Holly’s own work, whilst Mrs Thom is a tune from that remarkable Scottish ‘shape-shifter,’ Mike Vass. George’s solid acoustic guitar rhythm is the perfect complement to Holly’s flying fiddle on a tune that shows exactly what Painted Sky are all about.
Perhaps the album’s best example of how a traditional theme can be taken and developed is given with The Key, the album’s lead single. The lyrics tell a familiar story – man attempts to woo woman with material offerings, but his attentions are spurned until his pledges take an altogether more emotional turn – and Blair’s bass and mandocello and Holly’s soaring fiddle submit the song to the full-force of folk/rock.
And it’s the opposite end of the Painted Sky spectrum that features on the wistful False True Love. George picks a pensive acoustic guitar and Holly’s violin is beautiful on this pared-back traditional offering.
Alternately soothing and invigourating, the instrumental Dead Man’s Jumper is the album’s most compulsive foot-tapper and Fred’s bodhran adds authenticity to the tune’s unmistakable Irish flavour. And everything really does come together for the slow-building Sprig Of Thyme, as George’s guitar and voice is joined, first, by Holly’s violin, then her harmony vocals, before Fred’s military-styled drums and Blair’s rich bass lift the song right back up into folk/rock territory. It’s a delight.
And the version of well-known morris tune, Mrs Casey’s is another gem. Blair’s banjo melody line is challenged by Holly’s violin as Painted Sky once again show the world exactly what they’re about.
For the album’s title track, George once again takes a familiar story – this time it’s the tale of the young man driven to seek his fortune by going to sea, leaving his lover to mourn his absence and await his return which, of course, never happens. Blair’s gentle, sympathetic, production sees this wistful song – a 2024 take on A Sailor’s Life – build from a gentle ballad into an exhilarating climax; Holly’s violin emphasizes the sorrow in the story whilst the perils of the unforgiving sea are depicted by Fred’s crashing cymbals and George’s swirling Wurlitzer.
And it’s back to Eastern Europe – the Balkans, maybe, Russia? Romania? – for the album’s finale, a trio of tunes: Ochi Chernye/ Petyorshka/ Geamparele, as George and Holly almost set their respective instruments alight, such is the speed and passion of their playing. From The Blue is a wonderful album; folk/rock for the 2020’s.
Listen to The Key – the album’s lead single – here:
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