Trembling Bells: The Sovereign Self | Album Review

Let’s be honest: any record reportedly influenced by ‘suffering and Greek tragedy’ doesn’t exactly sound like the soundtrack to the summer, but the fifth album by Scotland’s Trembling Bells is celebratory in an understated way.

This is essentially folk music – and the five-piece has worked with the likes of Will Oldham in the past – but with thick, joyous streaks of crackling 1960s psychedelic rock, jazz, and cacophonous, freeform passages that are almost krautrock in nature.

Elsewhere, the piano-led harmonies of The Singing Blood ping with an Appalachian folk twang, while the sneaky playfulness of O Where Are You, St George? has an offbeat indiepop theatricality.

Coupled with the sense of darkness burbling underneath the surface, it’s a consistently interesting musical journey.

[ tremblingbells.com ]