Dark, haunted folk is A Thing right now, helped in part by every sync that baroque and brooding TV series drop in the dark moments. So, of course, Cinder Well (aka Amelia Baker) composed the theme to Small Prophets, a gripping and brooding…(checks notes) comedy from the BBC? The British can be funny that way, I guess.

Anywho, the PR uses words like “atmospheric,” "visceral," and “textured” to describe Cinder Well’s fifth release. I would add in “longing” – the sort of sad, haunted quiet you find in British and Irish folk you don’t find in standard American folk. Baker gets a ton out of her voice and just a handful of instruments, layering the atmospheric* vocals with the drone of violin and the soft punctuation of guitar. It’s masterful arrangement and production.

Equally at home with staring into the rainy darkness pondering the quiet implosion of your last relationship and realizing said lover in fact is the killer you’ve been tracking, Cinder Well is moody, dark, haunted, well-crafted, and masterful in conveying a place, a feeling, and a sense of quiet sadness and dread. Recommended for your next brood.

A Blooming Body is out July 17.

* - Fine, PR person, you win this time.

FCC Restriction: none
Recommended Tracks: 2, 4, 5, 6
RIYL: Lankum, Eliza Carthy, Jesse Sykes, Emma Ruth Rundle