Description

As its title suggests, Stornoways 2010 debut album, BeachcombersWindowsill, is something of a treasure. Featuring singles Fuel Up, I SawYou Blink and Zorbing, it showed just why so many were excited by theOxford indiefolk quartets arrival a DIY guitar band unusually rooted in folktradition. They stood out further with their deft ability to try their hand at mostinstruments, never shy to experiment while their pure pop harmonies soared.Warmly received on release, Beachcombers Windowsill quickly attained Silver status in the UK and, among the many positive reviews, The Observerpraised it for having a real emotional depth that transports their music fromthrowaway sunny songs to something altogether more poignant andenduring, while the NME called it beautifully rendered and melodicallymagnificent a Constable landscape of a record.The album is complemented by a stunning sleeve by designer Chris Bigg, who has played on the albums title and their songs about nature by working with illustrations of shells, aquatic life and old maps.Stornoway followed up Beachcombers Windowsill, in 2013 with Tales From Terra Firma. Ten this year, Tales From Terra Firma is an album of stories birth, death, marriage and coming of age. Featuring the singles The Bigger Picture and Farewell Appalachia, it was recorded and produced by the band in the main at their own Oxford space, bringing in mix engineer George Shilling having loved his work with Teenage Fanclub, a huge influenceon them midway to help them achieve their vision. It worked too.By being true to themselves and remaining oblivious to outside influences,they made a truly special album where life is unfurled for the listener. TheGuardian said in their full marks review that theres no curse of the secondalbum for Stornoway, whove stretched out without losing sight of theintimacy of their charming debut.For its sleeve, the band worked with the artist Kirini Kopcke who used fragments of lyrics as her start point to create a picture foreach tale on the album, presenting a strip cartoonlike depiction of the adventures in the life of the main protagonist.Both albums are pressed on recycled black vinyl, in FSCsourced card sleeves. Stornoway Vinyl is available for home delivery from Vinyl Records London, only £24 +P&P