Although Julius Way has been making music for years now, he now finds himself in the middle of a genre of music that is suddenly in vogue. Think Fleet Foxes, Stornoway, older Iron & Wine stuff and any of the alt folk pastoral artists. Recorded last year in Dartmoor it has certainly taken on it’s surrounding. It may not be a log cabin in the Catskills, but we have places of such beauty here too.
I Will Live leads you in gently to the album, before the joyous clattering and clinking of Jessie’s Yurt, when everything feels so alive. Cradle is a delightful surprise, awash with fuzzy effects to start with, which pop back in now and again. The effects free bits feel a bit fey in comparison, but it leaves you in anticipation of the hazier stuff. Friends is beautifully ethereal, the gorgeous voice of Bex Baxter interweaving with that of Julius Way wonderfully. Enemy goes all medieval on us, then The Dusk does remind me a lot of the aforementioned Stornoway, strong vocals and deft touch. There is a sense that the album is a bit too long at 13 tracks for this type of music to hold your attention, but when you persevere to final track Slow Death, where Bex Baxter is back with her heavenly voice, everything seems worthwhile.
Everything you want to know about Julius Way, plus streaming and album download are here
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