Genre: Progressive Folk

Track Listing:

01 The Forest Dark
02 One Night As I Lay On My Bed
03 Here I Am
04 Lough Eme Shore
05 Dulcie And The Sea
06 In Our Disease
07 John Barleycorn
08 God Rest Ye
09 Lilith
10 Beneath A Silvery Moon
11 The Dark Forest
12 Meet Me (Live Recording) (Bonus Track)



The Forest Dark is Michael-John Azzopardi’s (MJA) second release in a folk music idiom, and the rich tapestries of his previous, self-titled, release stand forth just as beautifully on this new album.

As before, MJA’s principle tools are his soaring, emotive vocals and supernatural acoustic guitar. As before, he marshals a number of supporting instruments to the cause; The Forest Dark adds banjo to the mix and he proves himself more than capable of ringing shadowy atmosphere and layered emotion from the instrument.

The Forest Dark is a lot moodier and more pensive than the previous release. It entices us into inky shadows, into the almost malevolent sentience of deep old growth forests. There’s a sense of lost history to this release, as though veiled and sometimes unsettling ancestral memories have hiddenly guided MJA’s performances, shaping the songs into voices for their near-forgotten expression.

As before, The Forest Dark combines MJA’s complex and beautiful compositions with his extremely creative arrangements of traditional European folk songs. There are a number of instrumental tracks, the trademark drones and rapid-fire arpeggios of his acoustic guitar carrying the day marvellously.

MJA’s vocally-driven compositions are always a delight, and he explores the shadowy aesthetic of this release in subtle and deep ways. The pathos and emotional complexity of tracks like “In Our Disease” – both musically and lyrically – would have to be almost utterly unique and unequalled.

Yet I think on this release it is MJA’s arrangements of traditional pieces that really carry the day. The album features what is far away the most atmospheric and trance-inducing version of “John Barleycorn” I’ve ever heard; MJA’s takes on old songs like “One  Night I Lay Upon My Bed” and “God Rest Ye” open these pieces into drone-tuned psychedelic Odysseys.

I complained a little about the clarity of production interfering with MJA’s previous album, but it seems he has resolved these niggling issues and The Forest Dark is marvellously clear. The complexity of the music still requires very focussed listening to gather up all of the many and disparate elements, but this is only to be expected with such layered and spellbinding compositions and arrangements.

All in all The Forest Dark hangs together strongly as a body of work, with a very enticing atmosphere running across all of the songs. MJA restrains the full reach of his technical abilities somewhat, so the freaky tech-heads should also check out his other, self-titled, folk release…

… although the version of this CD that I got includes a live version of “Meet Me”, a track from the first album with utterly unbelievable playing and singing. I hope he decides to include this track on all copies of The Forest Dark because it’s a brilliant way to round off the pensive airs and shadowy textures of this acoustic/folk masterpiece.