Blackhouse (2015)
10 tracks, 59 minutes
Spotify • iTunes
The old adage is ‘never judge a book by its cover,’ but book covers serve an important function of enticing you to pick it up and give it a go – they are made to be judged, it’s their whole point. I don’t have a problem with the cover of Blackhouse, it doesn’t particularly stir me either way. But I will admit that I was put off from giving the Peatbog Faeries a go for a long time, just from their band name alone. It’s such a stereotypical name of what I imagine would be a proper crusty, quite bad folk band. I guess it’s supposed to be self-aware in that way, but not Jim-aware, so I wrote them off.
I was wrong. There’s not an inch of crust on them. It is folk music at its very heart, so I got that right at least – most of the tracks are based on self-penned reels and jigs and all that sort of stuff, replete with highland bagpipes, whistles and fiddles. As soon as that first track, ‘Is This Your Son?’ hits the speakers, though, those doubts disappeared. It doesn’t start with wholesome fiddlry or earnest twangitude: it starts with a dirty sawtooth synth wave, some apocalyptic drums and a deadly bassline. This isn’t ale drinkers in kilts with a sideline in toffee and shortbread sales (although they might be some of those things) – this is The Prodigy! Then the fiddles kick and it’s the most natural thing in the world.
Throughout Blackhouse, Peatbog Faeries prove themselves to be like a punkier, less Afro-ish Afro Celt Sound System, with its hard rock and deep electronica elements all undergirded by Celtic melodies and energies. A lot of this wouldn’t be out of place at a cyberpunk night, and it’s sure to get you bouncing. It isn’t as unrelenting as the opening track may have you expect; there’s some gentler pieces scattered here and there with a chill-out vibe. I think I personally would prefer it to keep banging 100% of the time, but the slower tracks aren’t bad and don’t necessarily disrupt the flow – I just like dancing hard when I can.
I’ve had opportunities to see Peatbog Faeries quite a few times over the years at festivals and such, but never took them due to the name thing, and I’ve not managed to see them since. I imagine that they’d be rocking. I’ll have to update you if I ever do catch them live. Until then, remember: judge books by their covers if you must, but don’t be afraid to take a peek inside a dubiously-jacketed one now and again.
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