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After a very long silence since the last official release, the new album by In Gowan Ring titled “The Serpent And The Dove” has finally been published.
“The Serpent And The Dove” shows us that In Gowan Ring has not changed at all over the years: we can once again listen to a substantial artist who has maintained his integrity, gifting us with another inspired album always in the vein of traditional folk. B’ee has always looked towards acid-folk groups like the Incredible String Band, the legendary C.O.B. of Clive Palmer, or Pearls Before Swine instead of referencing the classic names of neo-folk such as Current 93, Death In June, and Sol Invictus. The approach has thus remained the same, and the creative vein does not seem to have exhausted itself.
The first track “The Serpent” is a dark and dramatic instrumental characterized by the presence of strings: it may remind one of some of the more medieval Dead Can Dance, namely those of Aion. The following “Thousand Of Bees” is a beautiful folk song in an intimate and solitary vein worthy of Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake. In “Sial At Play”, it moves in psych-folk territories dear to the Incredible String Band, while “Julia Willow” is another enchanting track with a timeless melancholy aura. “Set A Candle In The Night” has a crystalline and pure acoustic guitar that reminded me of the sound of Michael Cashmore. In the long and epic “Field Of Dream” B’e dresses as an ancient Celtic poet, using his voice evocatively supported by the pure sounds of strings and guitar. “A Song, A Story And A Stone” is instead a delicate piano ballad that may recall the Current 93 period “Soft Black Stars”. The closing, entrusted to “The Dove”, is instrumental again and symbolically reconnects to the initial track, closing the magical circle of the album.
“The Serpent And The Dove” by In Gowan Ring is a small pearl in its genre and lets us once again listen to a mysterious artist who demonstrates that he still has something to say.
Tracklist
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