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High Broad Field is already the sixth album by Matt Howden's Sieben. As with many good artists, the growth between the previous albums is carried through to this one, making it his best album yet. The music hasn't changed all that much, as the violin is still the dominant instrument in Sieben's music, along with Matt's excellent vocals. Like on the previous album, Ogham in the Night, Matt is also assisted by several guest vocalists. This time it's his daughter April, Lloyd James (Naevus) and Neil McSweeney (Neil McSweeney and the Gents).
This is a concept album, and the lyrics are part of a continuous narrative, in the form of a play. In short, it is about a knight who awakens after a thousand years' sleep, to become confronted with a spiritual choice. In the end, he chooses to rise and fall with the cycles of the High Broad Field. As a result of this narrative context, the songs also form a whole, and even though each song has its own musical theme and intensity, there is a continuity throughout the album. The album starts off very strongly with "Millennia", where the vocal harmonies of Matt and Neil work very well. "Easy Prey" has a very catchy melody, and excellent singing by Lloyd and Matt. "The Flood" is a very relaxed song with a convincing April as the jealous God. These are but a few highlights from an album that is best taken in as a whole, to fully enjoy the dynamics between the songs, which range from calm to up-tempo and intense.
As you might have noticed, this album is a 'double', in the sense that it comes with a bonus DVD. It contains the film High Broad Field by Portuguese filmmaker João Paulo Simões. As the title suggests, the film is set to the music of the album, and in that sense it has the character of a long music video. The main asset of the film is its many images of the beautiful nature around the village of High Bradfield. We see shots of both wide landscapes in various seasons, and smaller locales and individual spots, which go along very well with the feeling of the music. The lesser side of the film is that Simões is trying to tell a story using two actors, who in our opinion don't fit very well with the nature depicted in the film, and the story of the music. In a way, it distracts from the music and the nature images, and like Matt (see the Sieben website), we get the urge to shout "Get out of my garden!" at the screen.
Nevertheless, this is an excellent album, and worth buying for the music alone. The film is a nice extra for when you want to lie back and absorb everything while watching the landscape that inspired the album. Highly recommended to everyone who likes original modern folk music.
D.M.K. & O.S.
This is a concept album, and the lyrics are part of a continuous narrative, in the form of a play. In short, it is about a knight who awakens after a thousand years' sleep, to become confronted with a spiritual choice. In the end, he chooses to rise and fall with the cycles of the High Broad Field. As a result of this narrative context, the songs also form a whole, and even though each song has its own musical theme and intensity, there is a continuity throughout the album. The album starts off very strongly with "Millennia", where the vocal harmonies of Matt and Neil work very well. "Easy Prey" has a very catchy melody, and excellent singing by Lloyd and Matt. "The Flood" is a very relaxed song with a convincing April as the jealous God. These are but a few highlights from an album that is best taken in as a whole, to fully enjoy the dynamics between the songs, which range from calm to up-tempo and intense.
As you might have noticed, this album is a 'double', in the sense that it comes with a bonus DVD. It contains the film High Broad Field by Portuguese filmmaker João Paulo Simões. As the title suggests, the film is set to the music of the album, and in that sense it has the character of a long music video. The main asset of the film is its many images of the beautiful nature around the village of High Bradfield. We see shots of both wide landscapes in various seasons, and smaller locales and individual spots, which go along very well with the feeling of the music. The lesser side of the film is that Simões is trying to tell a story using two actors, who in our opinion don't fit very well with the nature depicted in the film, and the story of the music. In a way, it distracts from the music and the nature images, and like Matt (see the Sieben website), we get the urge to shout "Get out of my garden!" at the screen.
Nevertheless, this is an excellent album, and worth buying for the music alone. The film is a nice extra for when you want to lie back and absorb everything while watching the landscape that inspired the album. Highly recommended to everyone who likes original modern folk music.
D.M.K. & O.S.