On The Jonah, Ireland collective UNITED BIBLE STUDIES hearkens back to a unique time in the U.K.’s musical history, when bands like TREES, FOREST and MELLOW CANDLE were cross-pollinating native folk music with the more adventurous side of progressive rock. Song lengths stretch, arrangements wander, droning abounds, plainspoken voices sing enigmatic lyrics with darkly natural metaphors. But UBS is also a band of its time, so less traditional influences creep in, particularly the Asian feel of “Skelly’s Fireplace” (likely a result of similar cultural signifiers, rather than a deliberate merge), the scree guitar on “Death in the Arctic” and the black metal vokills that haunt the title track. This kind of freaky folk has gained a large audience over the past few years, but so little of it has any real power or substance. In contrast, United Bible Studies mixes atmosphere and imagination so that it continues tradition and peeks into the future.
http://myspace.com/unitedbiblestudies
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