After an absence of some years, Crumbling Ghost return with new album Four, due on 7th August through New Heavy Sounds.
A band who take traditional folk material then rearrange and refract it through the haze and heft of heavy, fuzzy stoner rock, with a chunk of psych and a smattering of doom, they do so with ‘Bill Norrie‘, the first single taken from the album.
“‘Bill Norrie’ is about a young woman who has been taken advantage of, who has hidden a pregnancy, probably because having a child out of wedlock would have brought shame on the family,” explained vocalist Katie Harnett.
“Her illegitimate son Bill has remained in her heart all this time, and even when he is cast down by her jealous husband she defiantly kisses his severed head ‘cheek and chin’ and vows to never kiss man again, which to be honest I don’t blame her, given the circumstances. The vocals start by setting the scene and gradually build to a dramatic conclusion. I attempted to capture her sadness, devotion, resilience and ultimate defiance in the face of adversity.”
Guitarist John Mosley saw Martin Carthy play his version of ‘Bill Norrie’ live at the Cumberland Arms in Byker, Newcastle, and fell in love with it. “So he adapted a version from Martin Carthy’s 1988 Right of Passage album,” noted fellow guitarist Donny Hopkins, adding, “As is often the case, I’d not heard it (still haven’t actually) and worked out some heavy delay parts over the verse around John’s more classic folk style. I added in the heavy drop A breaks between the verses as a nod to Miami band Torche and their bomb string.”
A musical anomaly, Crumbling Ghost are not newcomers. As their new album attests, it is their fourth, and they’ve accumulated a fervent coterie of followers, not to mention the occasional nod of approval from tastemakers such as Stuart Maconie, Stewart Lee and Tom Ravenscroft. And though they’ve appeared at Roadburn, shared stages with Hawkwind and even Damo Suzuki, they remain (possibly by design) curiously under the radar. That might change following the release of Four.
Avoiding mock-pagan pageantry, graveyard cosplay and cartoon Satanism, Crumbling Ghost apply folk not as a museum piece but as a lived experience, the dramas rooted in the culture, stories and daily lives of ordinary people: the folklore, the tales of love and death, murder and adultery, freedom and oppression.
On Four, those narratives are dragged into the present via churning distortion, hypnotic repetition and a sense of looming atmosphere. Fairport Convention with fuzz. Trees with heft. A pastoral Sonic Youth.
Harnett said, “Doting mothers, possessive, violent partners, vulnerable women, seasonal workers and Royal scandals, this album is our representation of the trials and tribulations of human existence and universal experiences that still feel relevant today, an interpretation of traditional tales along with original compositions presented in our own Crumbling Ghost style.”
Guitarist John Mosley added: “Themes of murder, betrayal, loss, jealousy and love are found across the record. In particular, the songs of Martin Carthy have been a particular source of inspiration.”
Alongside Mosley, Hopkins and Harnett, Ruth O’Loughlin plays bass and Matthew Atkins drums. The result is a set of murder ballads, supernatural reckonings and cautionary tales, all wrapped in slabs of heavy, thumping fuzz and atmospheric sonics. Harnett’s voice sits at the centre, unmistakably folk-rooted but shorn of prettification, melodic yet capable of real bite. There’s no hey nonny nonny here.
The lyric video for ‘Bill Norrie’ is below.
Four will be released as a limited edition red and white marbled vinyl, restricted to 300 copies, alongside a limited edition CD and digital formats.
