Review: Mayday

Artist: Lady Maisery
Album: Mayday
Label: Rootbeat

Track List:

1. The Crow on the Cradle
2. The False Young Man
3. Palaces of Gold
4. Katy  Cruel
5. Lady Maisery
6. The Factory Girl
7. Constant Billy/ The Lie of the Land
8. This Woman's Work
9. The Lady and the Blacksmith
10. Intro - The Grey Selkie
11. The Grey Selkie
12. Let No Man Steal Your Thyme

Overview
I had not, in fact, heard of Lady Maisery until I happened to see a friend listening to them on Spotify four days ago, but have since then become a staunch supporter.  This process took something like half an hour.  This is an album full of traditionally presented British ballads - some familiar, some less so - presented by three people with a wonderful understanding of harmony and expression.  There is a nice mix of texture throughout this album - their namesake is presented very simply with the three ladies (Hannah James of Kerfuffle and, unsurprisingly, Hannah James and Sam Sweeney; Hazel Askew of the Askew Sisters and; Rowan Rhenigans of Fidola - all astute and well-rounded folkies) relating the tale in a driving unison; meanwhile the Grey Selkie is given the harp fiddle vocal and accordion treatment.  If you are a fan of pared-down and simply but sympathetically presented Folk, you really ought to check this out.  There are also some nice Norwegian/Generically Scandinavian overtones to a few of the tracks - The Grey Selkie in particular, unsurprisingly, as it is set in Norway and Rowan is something of a Scandinavia Enthusiast (Me too Rowan, me too.)

Lady Maisery pull off a particularly folky thing with this album, which is the tendency to swing from tear-jerking to jolly without missing a beat.  Good work.

Favourite Tracks
I really, really like the Lady Maisery version of The Lady and The Magician (You may know it as Twa Magicians, or Two Magicians or something similar).   Close vocal harmony with really simple percussion in the form of stamping, clapping and tambourine (or maybe Morris Bells?  Hard to tell without watching them perform, something I really hope to do at some point soon).  Charming, very sweetly sung and full of humour and meaty harmonies.  It is tricky to pick it out exactly who is singing what, but I think it's Rowan hitting the low D (my tuning is not great...) on "..but HE became....".  That is a sexy note right there.  Props also to the wonderful Constant Billy/Lie of the Land.  I would happily dance a ceilidh to Lady Maisery singing tunes in three part harmony (Ladies, if you get to read this - any chance of that becoming a reality?).

Least Favourite Tracks
I don't have a least favourite track to declare here.  It's all lovely.  It feels like a cop out, but Lady Maisery do not put a foot wrong in my opinion.

Closing Comments
At the very least, go to the website and check out some of the sample music on their website; http://www.ladymaisery.com/album_categories/albums/  I promise, if you're a folky, you'll thank me - and, more appropriately - them.