Mellow Candle
Swaddling Songs

An hour by train as a couple from Bologna to Florence for the Gustav Klimt exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi: the sight of all that feminine sensuality deeply involving us, our gazes turning into passionate kisses, oblivious to the people around as if we were part of the program. Finally, the return to reality in the streets of the historic center had not extinguished all those intermittent colors in my mind until my eyes landed on an object strategically displayed in the Contempo window. Suddenly my brain shouted BINGO, and my wallet became significantly lighter after a clerk went into the display window to remove that unique copy, clearly ending up in my hands. Today, opening this Japanese CD of SWADDLING SONGS, a small sticker is still there to seal the event, dated 3-4-1992. In 20 years, it has had hundreds of plays in my player, replacing a very old tape whose whereabouts I no longer know.

The origins of this obscure Irish combo are reminiscent of a sort of revisited Sister Act: the 60s, a convent of Catholic nuns, three students barely older than children fascinated by the new sounds coming from the radio, with the nuns themselves acting as their very first managers, leading to a legitimate recording contract that resulted in a single that went unnoticed. Everything seems to end there, but these little women grow up, and two of them find each other, realizing the spark hasn't faded at all, and that the timing is right for another chance. CLODAGH SIMONDS and ALISON WILLIAMS are joined by the latter's husband, guitarist DAVID WILLIAMS, while the rhythm section settles definitively later with bassist FRANK BOYLAN and drummer WILLIAM MURRAY. They catch the attention of Decca, a bit short on folk-rock material in their lineup, and are justly placed in the subsidiary DERAM, providing them with a production booth directed by DAVID HITCHCOCK (Caravan, later Camel, Renaissance, and Birth Control).  

The recording of the group's only work takes place in the Decca studios in December 1971 (the same month and year of birth of my then-girlfriend... coincidence?) with a meticulous selection of an extensive repertoire mainly written by Simonds on the piano, the outtakes of which will be released in 1996 by Kissing Spell under the name THE VIRGIN PROPHET. To give an idea of the proposed sound, the only point of reference might be the single hit of Pentangle, LIGHT FLIGHT, because of the female voice but also for the fairy-tale and airy atmosphere, diverging from a strictly folk context. 

Twelve tracks in song format, whose peculiarity lies in the chasing of voices and a frequently classical instrumental blend: the Elizabethan HEAVEN HEATH, inlaid with an intense harpsichord, gracefully ushers into this enchanted world, the sweet guitar touches in SHEEP SEASON flee alongside the piano until the arrival of a pristine mellotron at the close. The more composed SILVERSONG changes face when guitar and viola break the melancholy for a wonderful moment. Simonds' voice, darker with gypsy tones, is predominant in THE POET AND THE WITCH, the first episode to show a certain rhythmic flexibility, contrary to Williams, who in MESSENGER BIRDS ventures into daring vocal explorations of purest quality. DAN THE WING is close to a more conventional folk-rock, yet the vocal phrases and the rhythmic drive give no respite. REVEREND SISTERS restores an aura of introspective magic, in a lyric that takes the girls back to school days and a pianism where Simonds is mistress and owner of the instrument. Three subsequent episodes are linked by a joyous festive air: the band genuinely seems to have fun in BREAK YOUR TOKEN, the men also lend a hand in the chorus of BUY OR BEWARE (for the thirty-second time... i want no water with my wine is exemplary!). VILE EXCESSES proceeds in the same vein and prepares for the final couple of bombs: LONELY MAN, written many years earlier in the convent, is a psych-pop-blues for a genuine freak party, while BOULDERS ON MY GRAVE combines spontaneous vocal combinations, gypsy scores over a relentless rhythmic structure, bidding farewell in the best possible way.

That same '92 I found one of the 300 copies of the vinyl reissue, gifting it to someone who doesn't know how much it might be worth now.

But it is the beauty of this album that is priceless!