Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By All The Queen’s Horses, Echoism Records 2021.
All The Queen’s Horses is the performance name of Irishman Sean Murphy and Raised By Wolves is the first single that I’ve come across lifted from his debut album The Dark Below & The Isle of Dogs.
If the single is anything to go by the album should be very interesting.
Sean was originally from Cork before moving to Dublin and then on to London where he’s resided for the last year.
The album is his response to a year of international turmoil and disaster.
A period where he’s observed “a darkness bleeding across the land and into all our lives.”
Sean’s musical style blends folk music with electronica to produce an atmospheric palette of sound that propels a twisted narrative of emotional responses to the pandemic.
The instrumentation includes cellos, synths, acoustic guitars, piano and vocals and in many ways the album is a family affair.
His wife, Sinead, provides backing vocals, his uncle Kevin played cello and long-time friend Darragh Molloy added additional backing vocals.
Most of the record was made overlooking the Isle Of Dogs, which isn’t really an island but a large meander in the Thames just downstream from central London, from which the album gets its name.
The narrative to the album is dark, reflecting particularly the gloom that descended over Europe as wave after wave of infection spread across the land.
We have been remarkably lucky here in Australia; although we’ve experienced short periods of lockdown I feel we have little understanding of the mass depression that many experienced as they suffered months of lockdown through a harsh northern winter.
This first single has whetted the appetite for the full album which is slated for release later this year.
In the meantime, more single are to follow so give Raised By Wolves a listen and keep an eye out for more new tracks.
