Stick In The Wheel's debut album, From Here, is a raw, fresh take on English Folk music. Their abrasive delivery of both original and traditional tracks, is not bland retroism, or empty nostalgia, but a voice linking now to then...

I have to admit I'm not a huge follower of Folk, and I'm less a fan of traditional English Folk music. To my ears it sounds twee and really, really annoying... oh, and pretty much all the same.

I think my biggest issue with From Here was that I didn't warm to Nicola Kearey vocals. In fact they really rubbed me up the wrong way. From the opening track 'Champion', I knew I was in for a long and drawn out listening experience. Singing out of tune, belting out the lyrics, dropping "h"'s... I don't know... I just didn't get on with it.

They have to be applauded for their vision; for taking something from the past and bringing into the here and now. Kearey herself has commented on the album that: "We see this music as part of our culture, we’re not pretending to be chimney sweeps or 17th century dandies. A lot of people are really disconnected from their past, and this is part of what we're addressing - getting people to reconnect with it, and realise there are parallels to be drawn from life 100 or 200 years ago. We make this music because we have to."

No! No, you don't!

3

Nick Smithson