Mark Fry / The A. Lords - I Lived in Trees

Absolutely stunning comeback by psyche folk legend Mark Fry (the man behind the legendary '1970's 'Dreaming With Alice'  LP). A miracle of an album, infinite arcadian soundscapes made with the help of British pastoral master Michael J. Tanner (Plinth). Big words but, trust me, big tip.

How many works of art succeed in providing a clear, coherent vision of one of these fantasies that has been inhabiting the collective unconscious for ages? Not many, in my opinion. When it comes to British pastoralism, literary examples come to mind, from Thomas Hardy's Wessex to JRR Tolkien's Shire and Kenneth Grahame's Wind In The Willows, but musically? Virginia Astley's masterpiece From Gardens Where We Feel Secure, for sure, some Penguin Café Orchestra maybe, and, incidentally, music by Japanese artists like World Standard or Gontiti. And this one: I Lived in Trees. That's the dream you had of a British pastoral folk, that actually materialized into an actual record with a not so nice artwork (but, who has never been turned off by softcover editions' artworks for 'Lord Of The Rings'?).

That dream I just mentioned is a dream of pied pipers and hippies, strangers to urban brutality, sitting in a clearing and playing together, to the sound of summer birds in the late afternoon, under the eyes of Ratty, Mole and Toad. A dream made real in part thanks to the INCREDIBLE field recording work by Michael J. Tanner. Huge favorite. (NM/NM)

Tracklist

1. I Lived In Trees
2. Behold The Nereids Under The Green Sea
3. Chalky Down
4. We All Fall Down
5. All Day Long
6. La Lune
7. Ruins Of Stone
8. Even The Sky Goes Blue
9. Taking Wing