"Dirty blues-rock" is about the last thing that comes to mind when thinking about
Smoke Fairies
, whose music is most strongly rooted in ethereal indie folk. But it seems someone in their circle has been listening to something featuring gritty guitar textures with a side of slide, since that's the unexpected yet prominent new flavor on
' fifth album, 2020's
Darkness Brings the Wonders Home
. The opening track, "On the Wing," is built around a faintly ominous folky melody with the graceful harmonies of
Katherine Blamire
and
Jessica Davies
hovering overhead, while in the middle distance there's a buzzy electric guitar playing bluesy licks and slide riffs. Not all the songs feature quite so much fuzz, but the tougher six-string attack becomes this album's signature by the time "Super Tremolo" closes out the set. The rough guitar certainly gives
a harder edge than their best-known work; however, what's most surprising is how little it changes the overall impact of the music.
Blamire
Davies
traditionally deal in atmosphere as much as melody, and their sense of doom-struck beauty fuses well with the bolder guitar sounds; there's a touch less mystery but a good bit more dread, and dread made beautiful is a big part of what
are about. A number of songs on the album deal with the uneasy balance between humans and the natural world, and the arrangements offer a subtle yet effective parallel, with the bittersweet lilt of the harmonies playing thrust-and-parry with the electric snarl lurking nearby. While
finds
toying with a new and different approach, it also reinforces what they do best; it's a detour that happens to take them someplace worth visiting. ~ Mark Deming