In my Ones to Watch list last year, there are at least 5 acts on the list I would have described as folk. This year, there is 1, this one, Marika Hackman. So if you were after a list of acoustic guitars and fiddles, you better get your fix now.
Since the ‘folk boom’ year of 2008, things have got a little less interesting in the genre, and now I think almost everyone is dire bored of banjo’s and people singing about grass and God. There have been several sub-genres, ‘folktornica’, ‘night folk, ‘doom folk’, anything to make it interesting again. When all we really need is someone to come along, who isn’t going out with someone in Mumford & Sons, who writes beautiful songs, and is still folk, but also, a breath of fresh air. And for me, that person is Marika Hackman.
Her debut single You Come Down/Mountain Spines was produced by Johnny Flynn and released on Paradyse Records, an offshot of Transgressive. It’s a beautiful set of songs, layered with interesting instrumentation and rich melodies. She has already announced the follow up to that single in the form of an EP which will be released on February 25th entitled ’That Iron Taste’. The track ‘Cannibal’ which is below is taken from that EP, and what a lovely offering it is. The song shows yet another development in Marika’s sound, taking it to a darker and even more interesting place than the debut single.
Her sound resonates with many artists from the 1960′s but it is still distinctively her own, and through working with Alt-J’s producer Charlie Andrew, I think the upcoming EP could be something pretty special.
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