I'll say this for The Crooked Fiddle Band: you never know where exactly they'll be going next. From heavier progressive rock and metal vibes, through intricate orchestration and folk rock tendencies, and now all the way to percussive and scintillating modern folk, the Australian band has always kept me guessing. Which is why it's always my pleasure to review their music or work with them directly, since I never quite know what is waiting for me when I hit play for the first time. I've fallen quite deeply in love with "Deadly Nightsnakes" since I first heard, mostly because I'm a sucker for well composed and articulated string instruments coupled with a punctual percussive base, which is probably as close to a one line description of this intriguing work you'll find. Head on down below to check it out!
OK, let's get the main question out of the way first: that's a nyckelharpa, a traditional Swedish folk instrument, and I absolutely love its lines on this track. Reminiscent of a fiddle but possessed with a certain added metallic quality, it works fascinatingly well at the end of this track, its drumming timbre blending beautifully with the present percussion. Speaking of which, I also adore the actual drumming work on this track, as it cinches and collects the rest of the composition and gives its forward rationale and momentum. And of course we could go on to praise the dulcet sounds of the cittern, an incredibly important historical instrument which defined much of the sounds of Renaissance music but, by now, you get the extremely pretty picture.
This track comes to us from what is now one of my most anticipated releases of the year, The Free Wild Wind & the Songs of Birds, which you can pre-order right here. For now, I will continue diving into the intricate arrangements of "Deadly Nightsnakes", to extract from it all the beautiful melodies it contains.