The minimalistic reverberations of a bass float from the speakers as if a distant memory, the breeze carrying with it children’s laughter, birdsongs, and a voice that could well be that of an apparition’s. It’s haunting yet nostalgic, the filaments of fantasy and textiles of truth—frayed, tangled and not—twisting into a fibrous link to what we think of as simpler times.
The latest offering from British avant-folk duo Alula Down, aka Kate Gathercole and Mark Waters, is essentially a double A-sided single. Members of Herefordshire’s “Weirdshire” scene, they lather songs that conjure the gentle psychedelia of the late 1960s. “High Germany” dates to the Seven Years’ War of the mid-1700s, but speaks to present-day horrors, too; the sounds of children playing were recorded in the rubble of Gaza in 2024, for example. “Summer Song,” for its part, lives up to its title; it celebrates those hazy, lazy August days when time seemingly slows to a crawl.
The twin-spin can be purchased as a download from Bandcamp, while a lathe-cut 45 will be available on or around November 14.
The Old Grey Cat 