The Trees, The Sea In A Lunar Stream is a muted, subtle album from Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon, a duo of Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin. It’s such a lovely piece of work that I’m going to invent a new genre, ‘folk-gaze’, for it: the music has that faraway glide of shoegazing at its best, but the guitars and strings derive from contemporary folk experimentation. It’s wrapped within leaves of dronish modernity and tied together with high, chiming vocals; the whole thing then goes supernova on the climax, ‘Halloween’. Marvellous. - Shindig Magazine
Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon are an Irish duo of Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin, whose “The Trees, The Sea in a Lunar Stream” is a haunting and at times quite beautiful collection of avant-folk compositions, which distil modern folk, shoegaze, drone and laid-back jazz backdrops into a heady and intriguing infusion. Reminiscent by turn of Nick Drake, introspective Neil Young, Satie, Sigur Ros, the more serene end of the Incredible String Band’s catalogue, and early Kate Bush, these eerie and ethereal soundscapes, often sung in a high pitched and tremulous voice, stand up well whatever the comparisons. “The Trees…” is consistently good throughout and worth checking out, particularly for the slow-burningly stupendous show-closer, “Halloween”. - Terrascope
The band - Aaron Hurley (vocals/guitar) and Scott McLaughlin (multi-instrumentalist) - have created an album that is haunting, ethereal, atmospheric, personal, and challenging. Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon’s music ranges from dreamy, free form, avant-folk to lush shoegaze to introspective indie-rock, with experimental and atmospheric textures. It is clear Talk Talk’s minimalist masterpiece Laughing Stock is a powerful influence on the band. However PDBTM are no mere copyists. Instead the music they love, Talk Talk, Radiohead, and My Bloody Valentine, has encouraged them - and Aaron in particular - to be brave in their songwriting, to use music as a way of navigating and exploring a personal inner world of sound, expression, and reflection, and realising that through the voice and the medium of song. Taking such a course inevitably produces music that is individual and firmly in the avant-folk/underground realm. Standout tracks are opener ‘As Perceived By Mice’, ‘Stealing Owls’, and the majestic ‘Two Hours After Dusk’, distinguished by its descending piano riff. - Galway Advertiser
Here's a long overdue new thing on Ireland's super Rusted Rail label (or maybe I just haven't been paying attention) in lovely handmade arigato packaging. The music is mysterious homespun folk music. Long drawn out dusty distant songs that at times recall a more palatable Richard Youngs (if anyone hasn't heard his high water mark 'Sapphie' you should do right away). It's full of eerie melodies, finger picked acoustic guitars and high pitched lost, longing vocals. Cello's weep despondently but theres a soothing quality to the music and after a few spins the subtle melodies start emerging from the murk. Recommended. - Norman Records
After a couple of years I finally hear an official release by this duo, consisting of Aaron Hurley and Scott McLauglin. Leading are Aaron’s slightly melancholic, moody, emotional high pitched whispery vocal led songs (on the first song slightly broken), accompanied by acoustic and electrified acoustic pickings with warm additional arrangements of cello, drums, piano, double bass, harpsichord, melodica, glockenspiel, softly breathed trumpet and subtle electronics. This sort of melancholy is highly attractive and drags you into the whole album. One track with deformed voice his voices whines stronger, and the arrangements becomes sort of rockier. On the last track, the band arrangements even slightly “freak-out” in a temperamental way, bringing the shoegazing factor into its heights of energy. Very good ! - http://psychefolk.com/
Phantom Dog is an Irish duo - Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin which is usually labelled as avant-folk/shoegaze/indie rock."The Trees, The Sea in a Lunar Stream" is actually their first album - a debut following by "In a Light" as Snowmachine released on Deserted Village and a 3" EP "Through a forest only" under current alias. Vocals, guitars, piano, cello, glockenspiel, bass guitar, melodica, double bass, harpsichord, vibraphone and a slight touch of electronics make their way to the point where singer/songwriter etiquette fuses with psychedelia and fragile sphere of inner journey. There is a great deal of poetry in this which isn't suppresive by any means and has enough power to become more than a music wallpaper which is a usual fact in case of songs of this type. Two gentlemen refer to Nick Drake's archetype in their own manner and style - very much retro and gets everything what is good from that. Time to chill out... - Felt Hat Reviews
Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon are an Irish two piece outfit featuring Aaron Hurley and Scott Mclaughlin. This is their first full length album so far, they have released two mini albums in the past, one for the Rusted Rail label and one for Deserted village. The album features eight tracks of gentle intimate almost indie folk like sounds. At times they kind of remind me of Low, on a slightly more acoustic buzz with lots of added string sounds, featuring lots of extended instrumental passages bordering on some kind of psychfolk take on the likes of the Rachels. - Road Records
The band - Aaron Hurley (vocals/guitar) and Scott McLaughlin (multi-instrumentalist) - have created an album that is haunting, ethereal, atmospheric, personal, and challenging. Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon’s music ranges from dreamy, free form, avant-folk to lush shoegaze to introspective indie-rock, with experimental and atmospheric textures. It is clear Talk Talk’s minimalist masterpiece Laughing Stock is a powerful influence on the band. However PDBTM are no mere copyists. Instead the music they love, Talk Talk, Radiohead, and My Bloody Valentine, has encouraged them - and Aaron in particular - to be brave in their songwriting, to use music as a way of navigating and exploring a personal inner world of sound, expression, and reflection, and realising that through the voice and the medium of song. Taking such a course inevitably produces music that is individual and firmly in the avant-folk/underground realm. Standout tracks are opener ‘As Perceived By Mice’, ‘Stealing Owls’, and the majestic ‘Two Hours After Dusk’, distinguished by its descending piano riff. - Galway Advertiser
Here's a long overdue new thing on Ireland's super Rusted Rail label (or maybe I just haven't been paying attention) in lovely handmade arigato packaging. The music is mysterious homespun folk music. Long drawn out dusty distant songs that at times recall a more palatable Richard Youngs (if anyone hasn't heard his high water mark 'Sapphie' you should do right away). It's full of eerie melodies, finger picked acoustic guitars and high pitched lost, longing vocals. Cello's weep despondently but theres a soothing quality to the music and after a few spins the subtle melodies start emerging from the murk. Recommended. - Norman Records
After a couple of years I finally hear an official release by this duo, consisting of Aaron Hurley and Scott McLauglin. Leading are Aaron’s slightly melancholic, moody, emotional high pitched whispery vocal led songs (on the first song slightly broken), accompanied by acoustic and electrified acoustic pickings with warm additional arrangements of cello, drums, piano, double bass, harpsichord, melodica, glockenspiel, softly breathed trumpet and subtle electronics. This sort of melancholy is highly attractive and drags you into the whole album. One track with deformed voice his voices whines stronger, and the arrangements becomes sort of rockier. On the last track, the band arrangements even slightly “freak-out” in a temperamental way, bringing the shoegazing factor into its heights of energy. Very good ! - http://psychefolk.com/
Phantom Dog is an Irish duo - Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin which is usually labelled as avant-folk/shoegaze/indie rock."The Trees, The Sea in a Lunar Stream" is actually their first album - a debut following by "In a Light" as Snowmachine released on Deserted Village and a 3" EP "Through a forest only" under current alias. Vocals, guitars, piano, cello, glockenspiel, bass guitar, melodica, double bass, harpsichord, vibraphone and a slight touch of electronics make their way to the point where singer/songwriter etiquette fuses with psychedelia and fragile sphere of inner journey. There is a great deal of poetry in this which isn't suppresive by any means and has enough power to become more than a music wallpaper which is a usual fact in case of songs of this type. Two gentlemen refer to Nick Drake's archetype in their own manner and style - very much retro and gets everything what is good from that. Time to chill out... - Felt Hat Reviews
Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon are an Irish two piece outfit featuring Aaron Hurley and Scott Mclaughlin. This is their first full length album so far, they have released two mini albums in the past, one for the Rusted Rail label and one for Deserted village. The album features eight tracks of gentle intimate almost indie folk like sounds. At times they kind of remind me of Low, on a slightly more acoustic buzz with lots of added string sounds, featuring lots of extended instrumental passages bordering on some kind of psychfolk take on the likes of the Rachels. - Road Records
So, what do we have here? It’s released by Rusted Rail, so it better be something good! Probably something leaning towards the folkier side. Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon, interesting band name for sure. Gets me exited somehow.And it looks great in that thin cardboard wallet. Basically, this is a very sentimental Michael Stipe kind of singer, moving around in high registers, singing melancholic songs about nights, loves and losses. The music is rather minimal,yet quite rich. While a song may consist of like three tiny melodies repeated over and over, them melodies are usually very nice.The album’s got some kind of ghastly lullaby feeling to it, which appeals to me. I also learned to cope with the wheezy vocals. Sometimes, they even send goosebumps over my skin, like in the first song when they go from high, to higher to even higher.And oh, the damped rolling drums and the bass work in the extremely atmospheric “Hide and Seek” is worth mentioning, bringinga slight Cinema Strange sound to the sound. Nice. “The Trees, The Sea in a Lunar Stream” is hereby by all means a recommendeddebut album from Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon . You who fancy laid-back folk experimentation in darker hues might check this out,and like it just the same. - The Shadows Commence
Listening to Aaron Hurley and Scott McLaughlin's music reminds me of that wonderful expression from Hank Williams about that high and lonesome sound. It could come across like too much of an attempt at a pun on my part to call Phantom Dog haunting, but it's true, nonetheless. This album is a landscape of very carefully crafted textures, including vibraphone, 'cello, double bass and electronics. - Boa Melody Bar
L'ultima proposta della benemerita etichetta irlandese Rusted Rail combina i caratteri più avanguardisti dell'attuale cantautorato folk con una sensibilità post-classica che fa ampio uso di una strumentazione orchestrale e di una lunga serie di organi analogici e texture elettroniche.
I responsabili di questo nuovo progetto contrassegnato dal suggestivo moniker Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon sono il cantautore Aaron Hurley e il polistrumentista Scott McLaughlin, artisti già in precedenza attivi nel cenacolo avant-folk coagulatosi intorno alla Deserted Village ma solo da poco attivi in duo sotto questa nuova denominazione.
I cinquanta minuti del loro debutto "The Trees, The Sea In A Lunar Stream" coniugano i loro diversi background e le relative attitudini in un lavoro che rifugge rigidi inquadramenti per presentare le mille diverse sfaccettature risultanti dalla progressiva stratificazione di vesti sonore su un tessuto musicale tradizionale. Così, se comune denominatore di quasi tutti i brani è l'evocativa scrittura di Hurley - che affonda le proprie radici nel più classico cantautorato drakeiano - gli otto brani racchiusi nel lavoro si ammantano di volta in volta di un'aura psichedelica e mistica, delineando una dimensione rurale e aliena, attraverso la quale rifulgono limpidi sentori bucolici ma anche astrazioni e deragliamenti chitarristici prossimi a torsioni drone-folk.
Il risultato è ottenuto da un lato attraverso una scrittura visionaria e ulteriormente arricchita dal febbrile avvicendamento sulla scena di una sorta di orchestra da camera, riassunta dall'abilità da polistrumentista di McLaughlin e composta di volta in volta di pianoforte, violoncello, glockenspiel, contrabbasso, vibrafono e harpsichord. Ed è proprio la cura strumentale riposta negli arrangiamenti, a trasfigurare con grande disinvoltura i brani da polverose nenie ancestrali ("Poems") a limpidi frammenti acustici ("Ellipse Of A Forest Walk"), da ritualismi atmosferici che rimandano ai Talk Talk di "Laughing Stock" ("Hide And Seek") a languidi saggi jazzy di un notturno ensemble cameristico come quello degli Spain ("A Shimmering Clown").
Il tutto è per di più puntellato da ricorrenti incursioni elettriche, al cui affiorare le composizioni dei Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon subiscono una mutazione genetica in bilico tra psichedelia della West Coast degli anni 70 e attualissime elucubrazioni drone-folk, particolarmente evidenti nella parte conclusiva del disco, ove lo stesso falsetto di Hurley si fonde in una specie di invocazione in un unicum con il brulicante substrato strumentale.
Indecifrabile e ispirato, "The Trees, The Sea In A Lunar Stream" risulta un'opera confezionata con cura e rimarchevole classe compositiva, che con la sua strana coniugazione tra sensibilità antica e gusto performativo post-moderno si atteggia quale ulteriore testimonianza della straordinaria vitalità delle mille declinazioni del folk contemporaneo. E in questo senso, sulla scia di esperienze come quelle di Agitated Radio Pilot e The Magickal Folk Of The Faraway Tree, l'Irlanda sembra sempre più la terra ideale in grado di unire in maniera stimolante tradizione ed evoluzione. - Ondarock
I responsabili di questo nuovo progetto contrassegnato dal suggestivo moniker Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon sono il cantautore Aaron Hurley e il polistrumentista Scott McLaughlin, artisti già in precedenza attivi nel cenacolo avant-folk coagulatosi intorno alla Deserted Village ma solo da poco attivi in duo sotto questa nuova denominazione.
I cinquanta minuti del loro debutto "The Trees, The Sea In A Lunar Stream" coniugano i loro diversi background e le relative attitudini in un lavoro che rifugge rigidi inquadramenti per presentare le mille diverse sfaccettature risultanti dalla progressiva stratificazione di vesti sonore su un tessuto musicale tradizionale. Così, se comune denominatore di quasi tutti i brani è l'evocativa scrittura di Hurley - che affonda le proprie radici nel più classico cantautorato drakeiano - gli otto brani racchiusi nel lavoro si ammantano di volta in volta di un'aura psichedelica e mistica, delineando una dimensione rurale e aliena, attraverso la quale rifulgono limpidi sentori bucolici ma anche astrazioni e deragliamenti chitarristici prossimi a torsioni drone-folk.
Il risultato è ottenuto da un lato attraverso una scrittura visionaria e ulteriormente arricchita dal febbrile avvicendamento sulla scena di una sorta di orchestra da camera, riassunta dall'abilità da polistrumentista di McLaughlin e composta di volta in volta di pianoforte, violoncello, glockenspiel, contrabbasso, vibrafono e harpsichord. Ed è proprio la cura strumentale riposta negli arrangiamenti, a trasfigurare con grande disinvoltura i brani da polverose nenie ancestrali ("Poems") a limpidi frammenti acustici ("Ellipse Of A Forest Walk"), da ritualismi atmosferici che rimandano ai Talk Talk di "Laughing Stock" ("Hide And Seek") a languidi saggi jazzy di un notturno ensemble cameristico come quello degli Spain ("A Shimmering Clown").
Il tutto è per di più puntellato da ricorrenti incursioni elettriche, al cui affiorare le composizioni dei Phantom Dog Beneath The Moon subiscono una mutazione genetica in bilico tra psichedelia della West Coast degli anni 70 e attualissime elucubrazioni drone-folk, particolarmente evidenti nella parte conclusiva del disco, ove lo stesso falsetto di Hurley si fonde in una specie di invocazione in un unicum con il brulicante substrato strumentale.
Indecifrabile e ispirato, "The Trees, The Sea In A Lunar Stream" risulta un'opera confezionata con cura e rimarchevole classe compositiva, che con la sua strana coniugazione tra sensibilità antica e gusto performativo post-moderno si atteggia quale ulteriore testimonianza della straordinaria vitalità delle mille declinazioni del folk contemporaneo. E in questo senso, sulla scia di esperienze come quelle di Agitated Radio Pilot e The Magickal Folk Of The Faraway Tree, l'Irlanda sembra sempre più la terra ideale in grado di unire in maniera stimolante tradizione ed evoluzione. - Ondarock
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