Press

A word or two from the artists:

Tinkerscuss: JOHN BARLEYCORN REBORN is phenomenal! The flow from one artist to the next, within the premise of birth into death (and eventual rebirth) is delicately managed and carries the listener with it almost unbidden. What becomes clear, is the passion for the subject each artist (and the collater) have brought to the project. Musicians, from all over, from different approaches and with only the remit of the album title to start with .. yet instead of a fragmented and confusing muddle, you have brought together a coherent and powerful result; very powerful indeed. It emanates from every note as it dips and soars in turn. The finished project transcends individual tastes and approaches and leaves you breathless and reeling. This is a strong message .. John Barleycorn is indeed reborn.
We're so, so proud to be part of this.  

Philip G Martin (Drohne): Just received the cd, a jolly good compilation. I feel priviliged to have contributed a wah wah hurdy-gurdy solo.

Peter Ulrich: The JBR compilation is a wonderful project - great to be involved with it...

From Necroweb: (By Valentina)

  Ob man Mittelaltermusik mag, Celtic, englisch-irische Kneipenmusik oder Neofolk, hier wird man fündig. Eine einzigartige Mixtur aus all diesen Musikstilen bietet dieser 2- CD- Sampler, der in Zusammenarbeit von Cold Spring Records und Woven Wheat Whispers entstand. Erzählt wird auf diesem Konzeptalbum die Geschichte von John Barleycorn, seines Lebens, seines Todes und seiner Wiedergeburt. Altbritische Geschichte, Mystik und Mythologie wurden hier in nie dagewesener Form lyrisch und musikalisch aufbereitet. Beiträge von bekannteren Bands wie beispielsweise SOL INVICTUS oder SIEBEN tragen Zeugnis dafür, dass die Zusammenstellung von Szenekennern qualitativ hochwertig gestaltet wurde. Qualitativ hochwertig ist auch die technische Seite zu bewerten. Klarer Sound und sauberer Klang lassen darauf schließen, dass für diese Aufnahmen ein professionelles Studio zur Verfügung stand. Man kann sich in einer Mußestunde zurücklehnen und sich in deutlich verständlichem Englisch die tragische Ballade erzählen lassen, ebensogut kann man sich aber auch vorstellen, in einem gemütlichen Pub sitzend die Musik zur Berieselung laufen zu lassen. Schlachtgesänge, Hymnen und Klagelieder wechseln sich treffend ab, Langeweile kann hier nicht aufkommen. Ein Märchen in Form der Sage um König Artus. Seltsam jedoch, dass der eigentliche Teil der Saga, die Wiedergeburt des John Barleycorn, deren Titel das Gesamtwerk trägt, nur als Download erhältlich ist. Aber wen das Ende vom Lied interessiert, für den wird das eine lohnenswerte Sache sein. Das Sleeve-Pack mit Booklets, Wallpapers und sonstigem Bonusmaterial gibt's gratis unter http://www.john-barleycorn-reborn.com/Media.htm.

  Alle Anspieltipps aufzulisten, würde den Rahmen sprengen, mein persönliches Lieblingsstück jedoch ist "Spirit Of Albion". (9.5/10)

From DSide: (By Valentina)

  Sebbene la Cold Spring Records sia per noi sempre certezza d'ottimo prodotto..non solo per la professionalità e le innate doti di selezione.. è d'obbligo offrire una riconoscenza ufficiale per questo progetto realizzato con la collaborazione della Woven Wheat Whispers (servizio di musica folk). La compilation uscita nell'Agosto del 2007, intitolata 'John Barleycorn - Reborn / Rebirth' è ambizioso e punta in alto. Trattasi di una raccolta di ben 33 brani, divisi in 2 CD, allegati ad un esplicativo e ricchissimo booklet che racchiude nel suo sapiente abbraccio numerosi artisti tra cui Sieben e Sol Invictus, seppur non da meno siano moltissimi altri nomi presenti, e magari sconosciuti ai piu, meritevoli d'attenzioni. Da non tralasciare poi, è la possibilità di scaricare altri 33 brani, gratuitamente..insomma..musica a non finire! L'idea di base è quella di esplorare una vasta area musicale folcloristica vicina all'era degli 'anni bui' (concetto comunque largamente elargito nel copioso booklet) con sonorità folk che vanno da quelle piu tradizionali a quelle piu vicine ai giorni nostri, neofolk, sperimentali.. e proprio perche il folk è qualcosa che esiste da sempre e ci lega nel sangue e nelle tradizioni (seppur solo aquisite o onorate) siamo certi apprezzerete questo (vasto) spicchio di mondo antico che vi trascinerà con le sue puristiche acustiche in un mondo ancestrale. D'altronde, è finalità comune quella dei partecipanti, di dedicare il lavoro a chi celebra e osanna tutt'oggi il folclore britannico.
   
  John Barleycorn (John Grano d'Orzo), era una canzone tradizionale diffusa in Inghilterra e Scozia (che ritroverete nel suo testo originale nel booklet, assieme ad immagini accuratamente selezionate) incentrata sull'impersonificazione di quello che era lo spirito della birra e del whiskey, metaforicamente parlando lo Spirito del Grano, che da sempre accompagna la ruralità e le leggende, impersonificando il continuo rinnovo della vita rivisto nel ciclo della mietitura. Potremmo poi discorrere sul mito della fertilità, usi e costumi, sacralità, paganesimo, sul senso dei cicli o sul mero sostentamento, sulla simbologia..ma vi lasceremmo volentieri trarre considerazioni ed accostamenti personali durante l'ascolto dei racconti di tutti gli autori proposti nei tre CD.

-|-|-» Immancabile questa compilation..e non solo perche contiene moltissimi brani dalle piu sfumature ma perchè sarebbe un bellissimo regalo per celebrare l'antica festa pagana del Natale del Sole.. questo 25 Dicembre.

From Apostazja: (By Stark)

  Review in Polish - read full review here.

From Cyclic Defrost: (by Ewan Burke)

  Over the past few years there has been a resurgence of interest in folk music in the UK. It’s impossible to know exactly what has prompted this, but I’ll hazard a guess. With the slow death of rock and pop music, the rise of X-Factor and Pop Idol-style TV shows, and dance music fast disappearing up its own fundament, discerning music lovers have been crying out for something real and meaningful. And this seems to have prompted an interest in artists whose influences extend beyond post-punk (hello Franz!) or the Beatles (wotcher Noel!)

  John Barleycorn Reborn is an amazing collection of 33 tracks of new music from the UK’s dark/neo/wyrd folk underground. Curated by Mark Coyle of Woven Wheat Whispers, the set is themed around the old (dating back to the 16th Century) English folk song ‘John Barleycorn’. Part One is entitled ‘Birth’ and Part Two is ‘Death’. Highlights on the first disc include Pumajaw with the doomy, dirgelike ‘Burning of Auchindoun’; and English Heretic with the barking mad ‘Hippomania’. On Part Two there is the very wonderful Sand Snowman, with the dreamy ‘Stained Glass Morning’; and the gentle Scottish voice of the Kitchen Cynics beguiles with ‘The Guidman’s Ground’. But it’s unfair to pick out individual tracks, becuase there is so much good stuff on here - and the quality level never dips, which for a 33-track set is remarkable.

  This collection is a real labour of love. A 20 page booklet with beautiful old woodcuts and short articles by various participants is included - and on top of that, there is a further 25 page PDF document available online, with full notes for each individual track. And did I mention that if you buy this 2xCD compilation, you are then entitled to download Part Three (Rebirth) for free - which features a further 33 tracks in MP3 format - taking this set to a whopping 66 tracks in total. I confidently predict that in future years, this compilation will bear the same relation to British folk music that the Harry Smith Anthology does to American folk music. This is more than just another album - it’s a significant cultural achievement.

From HMV Choice: (by Jude Rogers)

  Modern folk music quakes in its pointy boots - the real deal is here.

  John Barleycorn Reborn is an incredible endeavour - a 2CD set of dark, ancient songs by a variety of passionate British artists. Every song digs deep into folk music's mysterious past, building up an emotional song cycle all about the slow passage from birth to death.

  This doesn't make it a record for a house party, but as a private pleasure the results are spooky, engrossing and incredibly thrilling. It conjures up strange worlds where north country maids jostle against Wicker Men, kings dance among spirits, and gargoyles sigh in the company of dragonflies. Artists like The Owl Service, Sharron Kraus and The Triple Tree are particularly mesmerising. Elsewhere flutes, the sad drones of dusty instruments and eerie harmonies rule the roost, giving everyone who enters John Barleycorn's gates an unforgettable listening experience.

From Groove.No: (by Bjørn Hammershaug)

  SI den britiske kultfilmen The Wicker Man fra 1973 blir vi kjent med mange områder av britisk folklore, før-kristelige tradisjoner og paganistiske riter. Fruktbarhetsritualer, dyrking av solguder og magi, seksuell frilynthet, naturreligioner og menneskeofring er noen av ingrediensene. I tillegg til dette nyter filmen godt av et fantastisk soundtrack, hvis innflytelse har strukket seg langt inn i både amerikansk frifolk og britisk nyfolk. Det er en viss distinksjon mellom de to lands utvikling av dette musikalske terreng, der britisk nyfolk er mer preget av nettopp de elementer som er nevnt over. Vi bruker derfor begrepet "nyfolk" her i omtale av den britiske grenen av feltet, selv om røttene både i amerikansk frifolk og britisk nyfolk kan spores tilbake til de samme kilder på 60-tallet.

  Kjennetegn ved den britiske nyfolken er at den er mer inspirert av europeisk tradisjoner, og med klarere befatning til okkultisme og paganisme, koplet til bruk av tradisjonelle instrumenter, med elementer av industriell musikk og ikke minst "mørke" krefter. Termer som "folk noir", "pagan folk" og "apokalyptisk folk" blir brukt noe om hverandre, men felles foregangsnavn i denne kretsen er for eksempel Current 93, Nurse With Wound og Sol Invictus.

  Dette gjenspeiles i tittelen på denne fabelaktige samleren: John Barleycorn Reborn: Dark Britannica. La oss dvele to sekunder ved denne tittelen. "Dark" spiller på det mørke aspektet ved nyfolken som allerede er nevnt, dette dystre og tidvis skumle aspektet ved musikken som geografisk skiller seg naturlig fra for eksempel Californias mer blomstrende hippiekultur. "Britannica" tar oss tilbake til før-romansk tid, til tradisjoner som fremdeles lever og ånder i underverden, tilsynelatende upåvirket av den moderne utvikling. John Barleycorn er en av de eldste britiske folkesangene, først nedskrevet i 1588 i følge en av bidragsyterne i omslaget, og forteller om en manns forvandling personifisert gjennom kornsorten bygg (barleycorn) – viktig ingrediens i bryggingen av øl og dermed naturlig som symbol for fruktbarheten i åkeren og i naturen. Sangen regnes som viktig både for paganistene og for den tidlige kristningen av England, og det lever mange derfor mange spennende historier i John Barleycorn. Dette har et uttall artister opp gjennom årene visst å utnytte. Av en rekke versjoner (Traffic lagde en hel plate som heter John Barleycorn Must Die) kan vi her nevne Bert Jansch, Fairport Convention og Pentangle – alle essensielle navn innen utviklingen av nyfolken. Her møter vi altså John Barleycorn gjenfødt, det er nå en ny generasjon som vekker gamle krefter til live.

  Plateslipp er satt til Lammas 2007 – som i følge vår kalender er 1. august – og som er en dag tradisjonelt kjent for "the first fruits of the harvest". Utgiverne av plata gjør like fullt et poeng ut av å ikke knytte seg for nært opp til verken religiøse eller politiske aspekter, og uttaler om prosjektet:

  - Our concept explores the darker side of folk music is totally unrelated to the occult, modern paganism or politics. Instead it is about evoking the mystery of our ancient past, the strangeness of their beliefs and the remnants of this carrying down the centuries.

  Mye kan sies om bade britisk folklore generelt og John Barleycorn spesielt, og både i selve platecoveret og en tilhørende hjemmeside (john-barleycorn-reborn.com) tas dette opp både grundig og vel. La oss derfor prøve å rette fokus mot selve musikken. I likhet med sine amerikanske åndssøsken har det vokst frem en ny generasjon musikere i England, særlig de siste 10 årene, som har vendt seg tilbake til – i første rekke - 60-tallets eksponenter, og videre bakover i tid.

  Det skal ikke stikkes under en stol at enkelte i denne kretsen er i overkant seriøse, dunkle og selvhøytidelige. Musikken kan sikkert virke påtatt og en smule rollespillaktig for enkelte, men blant maskekledde druider og trekledde wicca-tilbedere finnes ikke minst veldig mye fin musikk. Først i denne prosesjonen går The Horse of the Gods, og de bringer naturlig nok John Barleycorn med seg. Dernest kommer The Owl Service med nydelige North Country Maid og The Story med The Wicker Man. I løpet av disse tre første møtene er mye av hemmelighetene rundt kulten avslørt: Horse of Gods med sin tradisjonsnære rotfasthet, Owl Service med sin innyndende og vakre visefolk i tradisjonen fra Shirley Collins, Ann Briggs – og senere popularisert av for eksempel Espers, The Story med sin mer eksperimentelle avgudsdyrkning. Det er langs disse kornradene vi skal befinne oss de neste par timene, og blant noe ugress så er det særlig den fruktbare jorda og de rike vekstene som danner hovedinntrykket. Jeg vil særlig rette oppmerksomheten mot Sol Invictus' To Kill All Kings som er en lang offerpreken, hypnotisk vakre Lay The Bent to the Bonny Broom (Charlotte Craig & Johan Ashterton) og den langsomme solnedgangsversjonen av Nuttamun Town (med Drohne) som tre porter inn i et meget spennende rike.
  Vi samles i kornåkeren, holder hverandre i hendene og ber til solen: La mørket komme.

   Med på kjøpet av denne lekre doble samleren følger også 33 spor for gratis nedlastning.

Record of the Week!

From The Wire: (by Rob Young)

  Successive folk music resurgences in Britain have fed on the myth of eternal rebirth. This double CD, surveying the UK's vast but largely undocumented experimental folk underground, contains three separate versions (by The Horses Of The Gods, The Anvil and Xenis Emputae Travelling Band) of the old staple "John Barleycorn", often interpreted as a pagan hymn to the natural cycle. Many tracks here recall the modal folk fusions that abounded on the isles from the late 60s to the early 70s, but rather than being nurtured in a prescriptive folk club circuit, you sense that the younger artists here, like Sieben, Pumajaw, The Owl Service and The Straw Bear Band, bring an unawareness of the entire subsequent history of punk, electronics and the new underground to the table. Sharron Kraus's courtly "Horn Dance" seems haunted with the ghost of the late David Munrow, the Early Music pioneer who contributed so much to Brit folk classics by Shirley Collins and The Young Tradition. On "Hippomania", the wonderful English Heretic inherit the late Coil's folk tinged directions and occult predilections, sampling dialogue from Micahel Reeves's Witchfinder Generaland intoning a ritual inspired by the mythopoetics of Robert Graves. But there's a strong sense of continuity too on a richly diverse collection that reaches back via Martyn Bates and old Industrial neo-folkies Andrew King and Sol Invictus to father-son duo The Story, featuring Martin Welham of psych-folk outfit Forest.

From Songlines: (by Tim Cumming)

  Something wicked this way comes...

   To get the full background on this singular enterprise in folk archaeology, go to the website (www.john-barleycorn-reborn.com) that accompanies the album for background essays, source material and a whole other album's worth of downloadable tracks.

  Like nothing else before it, Dark Britannia drills a deep musical borehole to explore the links between folk music and Britain's folklore, embedded in the natural cycles of birth, growth, death and rebirth.

  There are more than 30 artists included on the set, most of which are new to this reviewer, such as Tinkerscuss, Alphane Moon, The Purple Minds of Lazeron, or Sand Snowman.

  On first listen, it's like opening a cellar door onto a truly strange underground culture, illuminated by an unfamiliar power source.

  The references favour ancient deities and magical symbols, alchemical imagery, sacred landscapes, and ancient rituals whilst the musical settings tend toward acoustic drones and vocal chants that emerge from the heart of wyrd folk and rural psychedelia with their Liberty Caps firmly planted on their heads.

  The central, sacrificial story of John Barleycorn runs right through the set, from the cover art - a 17th-century woodcut of Barleycorn burning in the sun - through the central matter of the songs themselves.

  The sonic range of the album is as broad as its song list, from arcane acoustic sounds to fuzz guitar and electronics.

  Evocative and potent by turns, sometimes disturbing and thrilling, Dark Britannia will grab you the way a good ghost story - an MR James or Arthur Machen - will grab you over the course of a dark winter night.

  Pull up close to the fire and listen in.

From Heathen Harvest: (by S:M:J63)

  John Barleycorn Reborn is a compilation consisting of two CDs. It aims to make us discover the folk music from "dark britannica" and especially to reflect the seasonal cyce of birth, death and rebirth. Actually, a free third part is available apart from these two CDs: it may be downloaded for those who have the CDs according to the instruction in the booklet.

  In this compilation we can find tracks that tend to be truely folk, others rather electronic-based, many ambient ones and some experimental ones. Although some might seem rather far from usual folk music, all have in common, at least, to be inspired by folk themes and tunes.

  The folk tracks consist of the rather classic guitar-tambourine-accordion ensemble (1-03) or the simplier guitar-voices mixes (2-13, 2-03). Sometimes sounding really medieval with the addition of proper female voice, medieval instruments and tunes (1-10), or with harp and flutes (2-09). There also are some melancholic ballads (1-01) only with guitar and voice, as the moving female voice on Charlotte Greig & Johan Asherton. There’s also the end track by Martyn Bates that features a lone echoed flute (2-17).

  But, modern elements quickly irrupts in this folk background. Many tracks actually are a mix between raw folk tunes or sounds and rather modern, synthetic elements. There are drums (1-04), electric guitar (1-05), sometimes creating a mix not far from bands such as Naevus (2-15), bass (2-12), distorted bass, percussion and xylophone (2-01), or synthetic sounds and drums giving a martial touch (1-08).

  Let’s not forget this compilation deals much with ambient tracks, or at least really calm and relaxing atmospheres. Ambient atmospheres appear in rather folk-oriented tracks as in this track this strange incantation together with modern elements echoing the voice (2-10), or in relaxing tracks with male and female voice (2-11). Note that although both male and female voices are well represented on this CDs, there’s only one track with both together. Of course, female voices are really relaxing and sometimes don’t even need synthetic elements (2-02). Let’s mention an ambient track influenced by folk music but heavily based on synthetic sounds (1-07) to express the fact the music is folk-influenced but not necessarily folk stricto sensu. Mixes of folk influences and modern elements tend to be ambient on many tracks, could it be with guitar - female voice ensemble (2-04), flute and some modern elements (2-05), crows’ samples, mysterious chants of women together with guitar, a few modern sounds (2-06) or simply guitar (2-07).

  Finally, some tracks feature spoken experimentations with samples, electric guitars, violins howls in the background, sparse drums, mysterious and threatening atmosphere (1-15), with accordion, noises guitars, creating an atmopsphear between calmness and anguish (2-16), with piano and clarinet sounds, and ambient and experimental track also dealing with the same ambivalent atmosphear but much calmer and rather reassuring than odd (1-16).

  In conclusion, we can say that, even if there’s a big diversity of genres among these tracks, the folk influence remains always present. This compilation deserves the title "music of the fields", for it makes you feel close to nature. Let’s say the folk tracks are really folk, not just having tiny folk elements. For the other tracks, the most, they focus rather on ambient atmospheres, then on neo-/darkfolk mixes with modern elements or sometimes on experimental compositions. But, beware: you won’t find here usual neofolk bands, with bombastic martial hymns or industrial sound collage consisting of WWII samples. It’s rather intimist, subtle and close to nature. You’ll find many tracks with several voices. Most voices seemed to me to have a really good quality.

  Despite the fact some tracks are really simple, the voices with guitars are the base, and are able to give the most of the 'folk feeling' on this compilation. "John Barleycorn Reborn" stands as a good and especially relaxing panorama of various subgenres within English folk music, far from stereotypes of either raw, heavy traditional folk music or 'cheap' postindustrial martial acts.

From Darkroom: (by Michele Viali)

  Fino a pochi anni fa era impensabile che un prodotto come "John Barleycorn Reborn" potesse uscire per un'etichetta dedita principalmente all'industrial come la Cold Spring. Ma i tempi cambiano, e di molto. Negli ultimi anni c'è stato un interessamento notevole da parte di label di nicchia per le manifestazioni musicali più tradizionali e legate al passato: forse in Inghilterra cominciò tutto con le ricerche dei Current 93, ma anche i lavori della Storm di Michael Moynihan (Blood Axis) aiutarono ad arrivare ad una svolta in questo senso, fino a giungere ad alcune sub-label programmatiche (tipo la Percht o la Ahnstern, 'appoggiate' alla Steinklang Industries) che fanno spesso della loro produzione un inno agli antichi suoni acustici locali. L'opera in questione raccoglie 33 brani di autori che recuperano le proprie radici attraverso la musica, esplorando il folk dell'età oscura per eccellenza: il medioevo. Tramite i suoni veniamo catapultati in un passato di cui è possibile rivivere rituali e credenze: si tratta di quell'Inghilterra oscura ("Dark Britannica", appunto) compresa tra l'era romana e i tempi antecedenti l'invasione dei Sassoni. Lo stesso titolo della compilation ci conduce all'immagine leggendaria e medievale di John Barleycorn, protagonista di una classica folk-song inglese che racchiude valenze rituali, rurali e magiche; non a caso i due CD sono stati concepiti durante il Lammas (1° agosto), giorno in cui tradizionalmente si celebra nelle comunità rurali il primo prodotto della mietitura. Il fine di una così ampia raccolta è anche di presentare tanti autori che finora sono rimasti ai margini, non considerati dai media e nemmeno dal music-business alternativo: vi troverete quindi dinnanzi a tanti nomi sconosciuti che da tempo si impegnano nel far rivivere il passato attraverso una strumentazione classica (principalmente la chitarra acustica), ma anche ricercata. Accanto a questi appaiono alcuni musicisti celebri, il cui approccio alla materia è sicuramente meno folk e meno tradizionale, ma comunque di grande impatto: mi riferisco a While Angels Watch, Martin Bates, Sol Invictus, Andrew King, The Triple Tree (nuovo progetto di Tony Wakeford ed Andrew King), Sieben (Matt Howden) e Peter Ulrich (ex-Dead Can Dance). Una terza parte della compilation, contenente altri 33 brani di altrettanti autori, è disponibile per gli acquirenti di "John Barleycorn Reborn" tramite download dal sito della Woven Wheat Whispers, label co-produttrice del lavoro: si chiude così un'opera mastodontica che abbraccia nel modo più ampio possibile la scena folk inglese contemporanea. Parallelamente a tutto ciò potrete scoprire, con questo doppio CD, l'ideale anello di congiunzione tra le tante realtà neofolk (alcune molto vicine ai suoni del passato) e la scena folk tradizionale, forse (finora) troppo snobbata e veramente lontana da qualsiasi linea trendy dei tempi moderni.

From Bizarre Magazine: (by Kate Hodges)

  English folk music has long been stereotyped as fiddly-diddly-jig nonsens, and its more sinister, darker traditions smothered. But this album gathers heretics and pagans from the crannies of England to sing solstices, crows and long-forgotten rituals. But with a cheeky nod to more modern culture in titles such as 'The Wicker Man', and band names such as The Owl Service, this plays like the soundtrack to some long-forgotten, flickery Hammer Horror film.

From Aquarius Records:

  There's really nothing 'freak folky' going on in this British folk compilation. The music here is all pretty traditional. And thus pretty fantastic. Think Incredible String Band, Steeleye Span, Comus, Richard Thompson (and Fairport Convention), Trees, C.O.B., Shirley Collins, or the Wickerman Soundtrack (there's actually a song called 'Wicker Man' by The Story). As much as we love us some freak folk, none of that stuff would exist it it weren't for the above mentioned bands. 

  And the groups included on this comp, whose focus here is the fairly abstract 'dark folk', do a pretty amazing job of sifting through the various strains of classic British folk, and offering up their own subtle interpretations. And again, nothing shocking or even that experimental, just a new generation of musicians, paying tribute to the music that they grew up on, and that informed the music they make now. A handful of AQ faves are present, the Story, Far Black Furlong, Alphane Moon, Sharron Kraus, Martyn Bates, as are the A Lords, the Kitchen Cynics, Sol Invictus, and tons and tons of bands we had never heard of: The Horses Of The Gods, The Triple Tree, Pumajaw, English Heretic, The Anvil, Electronic Voice Phenomenon, The Purple Minds Of Lazeron, Quickthorn, Sand Snowman, Stormcrow, While Angels Watch, Xenis Emputae Traveling Band, Drohne and we could go on and on. 
Two discs of glorious, classic sounding 'dark folk.' From lilting shanties, to tense ominous dirges, to brooding apocalyptic folk, to buzzing ragas, to dreamy lullabyes, fluttering flutes, fiddles and bongos, steel string guitars and an incredible array of vocal styles, male and female, raspy and weathered, wispy and dreamlike, mournful and melancholy, soft and breathy, dark doleful melodies, rich harmonies, weaving a gorgeous landscape of a lost sonic Britannica.

  Amazing liner notes too, text on the source of the title, an introduction and explanation to the compilation, various short pieces on folk music and the history of folk music from a handful of the artists on the comp, concerning their songs, their groups and their musical journeys, lyrics, reproductions of old woodcuts and more. So fantastic. And absolutely essential listening for fans of freak folk, dark folk and seventies British folkmusic.

From Blow Up: (by Paolo Bertoni)

  Un più diretto tributo alla suddetta tradizione folk, in particolare alla sua componente più cupa, è la superba compilazione allestita da Cold Spring con la collaborazione di Woven Wheat Whispers. Nell’ultimo decennio questo immenso patrimonio popolare è stato massicciamente riscoperto in Gran Bretagna, ed una miriade di formazioni e solisti sta rinnovando, senza clamori, fondamentalmente irrilevanti, i fasti di canzoni che portano con sé profumo di invincibile eternità. Devota soggezione ed assoluto rispetto dei tradizionali qui ripresi - forse appena English Heretic in Hippomania, Xenis Emputae Travelling Band con una mistica John Barleycorn: His Life, Death And Resurrection voce/harmonium e While Angels Watch in una tempestosa ed avvincente Obsidian Blue si spingono oltre - accomunano i partecipanti a questo sampler sia che provengano da radici prettamente folk sia le abbiano riafferrate dopo aver percorso strade diverse, ma solo apparentemente più tortuose, come nel caso di Sol Invictus, con Tony Wakeford presente anche nella sigla The Triple Tree, Andrew King, Sieben, Peter Ulrich, i citati While Angels Watch e lo stesso Bates.

From Evening Of Light: (by O.S.)

  Where to begin with an absolutely massive compilation like this? Well, it all started with Mark Coyle's Woven Wheat Whispers label, which started in late 2005. Since then, he has managed to gather an impressive number of artists to his MP3-only label, covering the broad area of underground modern folk music, ranging from traditional to folk rock, from neofolk to psychedelic folk, from mediaeval to pagan folk. Hundreds of albums have been (re-)released, and the scope of the label has become huge. All the more reason why an overview compilation like this one is very welcome. Not only does the first edition of the John Barleycorn Reborn series contain a host of great artists, this is only the tip of the iceberg, for as the subtitle gives away, only English artists have been featured on this album (with the unforseen exception of novemthree). More editions are to come, which will contain American artists, other European countries, and who knows what else?

  But, let's focus on this one first. In collaboration with English neofolk/post-industrial label Cold Spring, Woven Wheat Whispers has released the main part of the compilation on a fine 2CD set, contain well over two and a half hours of music. But, a WWW release wouldn't be complete without some free stuff. In this case, this means a huge MP3 supplement, freely downloadable if you've bought the CDs. It contains a further two and a half hours of music, making the total running time of the set over five hours - now there's value for money.

  But, the value is not only in quantity, but also in quality, as there are so many great artists from various subareas of the folk world featured on this compilation. Even more so here than anywhere else, it would be a fool's errand to try and give an in-depth review of every track. As it as, I'll try and pick out the highlights, while giving a taste of the diversity contained in here at the same time. Of course, this compilation wouldn't be complete without renditions of the traditional song that gave it its name: "John Barleycorn". Both CDs start with a version of this classic, and The Horses of the Gods and The Anvil both pull it off convincingly and originally. Other traditionals also feature on the album, such as "Lay the Bent to the Bonny Broom" by Charlotte Greig and Johan Asherton, who deliver a long, intimate rendition of this cruel ballad. Clive Powell's "Reed Sodger" is based on various pieces of traditional rhyme, and features Clive's unique voice over subtle electronics. The omnipresent (but rarely dull) "Twa Corbies" is here executed by pyschedelic folkrockers Mary Jane, who turn this track into a quite funky affair. "Pew Pew" is a Scottish traditional text, here set to harp and recorder by Quickthorn, featuring the vocals of Prydwyn. But, one of my absolute favourites has to be Venereum Arvum's version of "Child 102", the ballad of the birth of Robin Hood. Sean and Rachel's vocals soar in unison above subtle accompaniment, letting the beauty of the melody speak for itself convincingly.

  Also the non-traditional tracks contain some great stuff. The English division of neofolk can't be left out here, of course, and least of all Tony Wakeford's Sol Invictus, who come with a brand new track, representative of the band's recent experimental direction. This is equally true of The Triple Tree, where Tony collaborates with Andrew King. "Three Crowns" is a dark track combining acoustic soundscapes with obscure folkloric themes (in this case from an M.R. James story). Andrew King solo is a guarantee for traditional song delivered with conviction, and based on proper research, and his version of "Dives and Lazarus" is no exception. This is a re-recorded version of the track which originally appeared on the split with Changes. Matt Howden's Sieben is also featured with a remix of a track from Ogham Inside the Night; a fine example of his original violin 'n' vocals approach to folky modern song. Finally, there's While Angels Watch, with a not totally convincing track, which nevertheless has a very nice atmosphere and development.

  But there's so much more going on here I just have to mention. Damh the Bard delivers a rousing piece of pagan folk on "Spirit of Albion". The Kitchen Cynics' "The Guidman's Ground" is a song based on spacy guitar, accompanied by subtle vocals telling a rather dark folk narrative. "Summerhouse" by The A. Lords is a wonderfully serene piece of pastoral music, based on guitar, organ, and field recordings. The ever impressive Sharron Kraus comes with the very nice little "Horn Dance". More esoteric things are happening with Alphane Moon, who offer a brilliant mix of semi-gregorian singing and the mystic acoustic sounds we've come to expect from these people at Oggum Records. Even more occult is English Heretic, of course, as always exploring obscure folkloric subjects, and presenting the results in the form of experimental music, here with electric guitar freakiness, wild vocals, drums, and samples. "Stained Glass Morning" by Sand Snowman is a great piece of psychedelic folk, combining superb acoustic guitar melodies with soothing female vocals.

  And that was just the first 2CD part of the collection! If you get this album, be sure to get the free MP3 download as well, because there are quite some hidden gems in there as well. Of course, no time to mention them all, but here's the ones that stuck with me most. First of all, Far Black Furlong present a wonderful epilogue (again with great oboe work) to the already excellent The East Room album, also on Woven Wheat Whispers. Odd one out is American novemthree, who nevertheless brings two convincing instrumental track of his foresty folk with nice percussion. Alan Trench and Martyn Bates' Twelve Thousand Days presents "Thistles", a wonderful track from their 2006 album From the Walled Garden. Other work of Trench's is also featured, with nice tracks by Orchis and Cunnan. Paul Newman's "Lavondyss" is a very good melancholic track on vocals and acoustic guitar. We also get a very nice selection of tunes from some of England's finest mediaeval artists, such as The Daughters of Elvin and Steve Tyler. Best of all is Misericordia's "De Poni Amor A Me", a superb song based on hammered dulcimer, hurdy-gurdy, and bagpipes.

  I haven't mentioned all, of course, and this is not the place for an even more in-depth approach. It doesn't mean the unmentioned tracks aren't good or interesting, of course, because this compilation has a very consistent quality level. What's also not mentioned yet is that in addition to a load of great music, John Barleycorn Reborn also has a very firm folkloric concept. A selection of artists, as well as project initiator Mark Coyle have written short contributions in the booklet, to clarify their feeling towards this compilation, and towards the new folk revival that is being documented by it. For I believe a revival is a correct term. Folk music and lore has served as an inspiration to many artists over the past two decades or so, John Barleycorn Reborn is one of the first to provide an overview of at least a part of this area of music so full of original approaches. I firmly believe that this set and its followers will serve as a monument to this revival, and I imagine myself looking back to this in a couple of decades with a sense of nostalgia. I commend Woven Wheat Whispers and Cold Spring for putting this together for us, and I'm looking forward to the followups. Anyone who wants to know what's happening in underground folk music these days should absolutely get this treasure trove! Even for those who knew many of the artists already, there is loads to discover.

From Vital Weekly / Earlabs: (by NMP)

  One of my favourite compilations was released back in 1999. "Succour : The Terrascope Benefit Album" was an album released to economically support the legendary experimental music magazine Ptolemaic Terrascope. Though the approach on this new compilation released on Cold Spring is different there is some similarity to aforementioned "Succour"-compilation. Both compilations have a great folkloric atmosphere saturating throughout the album. On new double disc compilation from British label Cold Spring Records, titled "John Barleycorn Reborn: Dark Britannica" the folkloric expression is completely dominating. And the result is a deeply inspiring musical experience. With a running time of more than 150 minutes, the album presents 33 projects spanning from completely unknown to folk noir-legends such as Sol Invictus. "Dark" refers to a historical unknown period of Great Britain. More precisely "Dark Britannica" means dark folk of Britannica referring to the fact that all tracks on the compilation have been derived from a time in British history that has been completely forgotten. Each of the contributing artists has done a very nice job making this "music of the forgotten past" speak its very own language in the age of present time. With deep respect to the ancient folkloric expression the interpretations emerges into modern expressions spanning from neo-folk across modern psychedelia to ethereal space rock. "JOHN BARLEYCORN REBORN : DARK BRITANNICA" is an extremely beautiful voyage back to the days of dark British folk.

From Obliveon: (by MK)

  In Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem englischen Cold Spring-Label und Woven Wheat Whispers, einem Download-Service für traditionelle britische Folk-Musik, entstand diese Zusammenstellung vornehmlich düster gehaltener, traditioneller englischer Folk-Songs. Wer im Laufe der Jahre aufmerksam Interviews mit Neofolkgrössen wie Current 93, Death in June oder Sol Invictus gelesen hat, wird dabei immer auf Verweise der englischen Folk-Szene gestossen sein, und genau dieser trägt „:John Barleycorn Reborn: Dark Britannica“ Rechnung. Auf einer Doppel-CD finden sich hier eine Vielzahl von Künstlern wieder, die nie gross in das Blickfeld der Öffentlichkeit geraten sind, aber dennoch die oben genannten Bands in der einen oder anderen Form beeinflusst haben. Alleine die Tatsache, dass auch Bands wie Sieben, Andrew King, Peter Ulrich, While Angels Watch oder Sol Invictus hier ebenfalls vertreten sind, zeigt nicht nur die enge Verbindung zwischen der Tradition des englischen Folksongs und zeitgenössischer, vom Folk beeinflusster Musik, sondern auch die Tatsache, dass diese Bands stilistisch sich ihrer Vergangenheit bewusst sind und mit ihren Songs auch nicht aus dem Kontext dieses Albums fallen. Hier nun einzeln auf alle vertretenen Künstler mit ihren Songs einzugehen, würde sicher den Rahmen dieser Rezension definitiv springen, doch wer sich den Ursprüngen von Neofolk oder Apocalyptic Folk annähern will, kommt an dieser umfangreichen und musikalisch aussergewöhnlichen Compilation mit all ihren unterschiedlichen Facetten ganz sicher nicht vorbei.

From Feindesland:

  Die Briten, ein komisches Völkchen, welches traditionell über Gebräuche verfügt, die wir die Europäer auf dem Festland nicht nachvollziehen können (oder nicht wollen?). Wer schmiert sich schon säuerliche Marmelade zum Frühstück auf sein Brötchen, isst Schafsinnereien zum Mittagessen, trinkt pünktlich um fünf Uhr Tee und rennt am Abend in Pub, um sich schnellst möglichst die Lampen anzuzünden (Nicht zu vergessen, der ordentliche Streit über Fußball, der gelegentlich in einer wilden Keilerei endet!)? Vorurteile? Nein, nur der normale Wahnsinn auf der Insel!
Meiner Person scheint, dass die Briten über kein eigenes bzw. ausgewiesenes Wohnzimmer in ihren Häusern verfügen und deshalb die meiste Freizeit ihres Lebens in der Kneipe verbringen. Zu der zünftigen Trinkkultur gehören natürlich Whisky und das Frischbier (Warum lagern, wenn das Gebräu sofort in den Ausschank kann?). Wenn der Alkoholspiegel steigt, müssen zur Unterhaltung Folkkapellen auf die Bühne, die altertümliches Liedgut zum Besten geben. Die Ballade "John Barleycorn" darf natürlich im Repertoir der Musikanten nicht fehlen, die angeblich 1588 niedergeschrieben wurde und nicht im Original von Robert (bei den Briten besser unter Robbie bekannt) Burns (1759 - 1796) stammt. Um Ihnen einen Einblick in das Volklied "John Barleycorn" zu verschaffen, hier der komplette Text:

There was three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.
They took a plough and plough'd him down,
Put clods upon his head,
And they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.
But the cheerful Spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris'd them all.
The sultry suns of Summer came,
And he grew thick and strong;
His head weel arm'd wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.
The sober Autumn enter'd mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Show'd he began to fail.
His colour sicken'd more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.
They've taen a weapon, long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.
They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgell'd him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turned him o'er and o'er.
They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.
They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe;
And still, as signs of life appear'd,
They toss'd him to and fro.
They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller us'd him worst of all,
For he crush'd him between two stones.
And they hae taen his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.
John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise.
'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy;
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.
Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!

  Sie sehen die Zeilen und finden ein Stück vor, welches definitiv den Durst fördert. Diesem Relikt aus alten vergangenen Tagen nahm sich das Label Woven Wheat Whispers in Kooperation mit Cold Spring Records an und trommelte eine Heerschar von Künstlerinnen und Künstlern zusammen, um eine groß angelegte Huldigung zu vollziehen.

  Sie, die geneigte Kundschaft erhalten auf der Doppel CD "V.A. - John Barleycorn Reborn" eine Kompilation mit 33 Protagonisten, die Ihnen meine Wenigkeit nicht enthalten möchte: The Horses Of The Gods, The OWL Service, The Story, Damh The Bard, Mary Jane, Andrew King, The Triple Tree, Sol Invictus, Sieben, Sharron Kraus, Charlotte Greig & Johan Ashterton, Pumajaw, Peter Ulrich, Alphane Moon, English Heretic, Far Black Furlong, The Anvil, Tinkerscuss, The Straw Bear Band, Electronic Voice Phenomena, The Purple Minds Of Lazeron, Sand Snowmann, The A Lords, The Kitchen Synics, Quickthorn, Clive Powell, Venerum Arvum, Drohne, Stormcrow, Doug Peters, Whiles Angels Watch, Xenis Emptuae Travelling Band und Martyn Bates.

  Eine imposante Armee aus "berühmten" und unbekannten Akteuren, die hier durch die Bank feinste Folkmusik präsentieren im Gedenken an John Barleycorn.

  Diejenigen unter Ihnen, welche sich nach diesem "Folkmarathon" immer noch an der Theke festklammern, bekommen beim Kauf der Tonträger noch ein Zugang mitgeliefert, um sich den dritten Teil mit über 30 Aktivisten kostenlos bei Woven Wheat Whispers herunter zuladen. Hier die Auflistung der Damen und Herren, die Sie noch erwarten: Magpiety, The Story, Telling The Bees, David A Jaycock , Yealand Redmayne, Charlotte Greig and Johan Asherton, Steve Tyler, The Wendigo, The Owl Service, Far Black Furlong, Xenis Emputae Travelling Band, Sedayne, The Straw Bear Band, Novemthree, Paul Newman, James Reid, JefvTaon, Wooden Spoon, Big Eyes Family Players, Sundog, Clive Powell, Mac Henderson of Grand Union Morris, Cunnan, Orchis, Twelve Thousand Days, Novemthree, James Reid, Mary Jane, Daughters of Elvin, Venereum Arvum, The Anvil und The Sunshine People. Einige Bands bzw. Projekte stellten zwei Tondokumente zur Verfügung, deshalb tauchen gewisse Namen doppelt auf.

  Die schlichte aber stilvolle Aufmachung von "V.A. - John Barleycorn Reborn" bildet einen hervorragenden Rahmen, der sehr gut zum Gesamtkonzept passt.

  Eine Veröffentlichung, die Individuen anspricht, die das Flair einer schummerigen Spelunke in der Britannie lieben und gerne den alkoholhaltigen Getränken frönen. (15/15)

From Black Magazin: (by M.G.)

  Das Weblabel Woven Hand Whispers ist eine Anlaufstelle für legale Downloads verschiedenster Arten von Folk. Als meines Wissens erster "freif-barer" Tonträger erscheint ein Album unter einem Projektnamen, der vielen etwas sagen sollte: John Barleycorn, ein Gedicht über die Herstellund (und Wirkung!) von Alkohol, ist (auch) immer wieder ais Restsput heidnischer Riten gedeutet worden, das legt das Zyklische, der darin beschriebene Kreislauf von Geburt und Tod nahe. Es mag eines der am häufigsten interpretierten Traditionals sein (von TRAFFIC und STEELEYE SPAN bis zu FIRE AND ICE und STONE BREATH). Im Konzept, das im Booklet ansatzweise dargelegt wird, wird betont, dass das auf den ersten Blick seltsam (anachronistisch) anmutende Adjektiv "dark" nicht musikalisch zu verstehen sei, sondern in einer ähnlichen Weise, wie in "Dark Ages" (mit dem in etwa der Zeitraum des frühes Mittelalters beschrieben wird), also eine Zeit, über die verhältnismäßig wenig bekannt ist, ebenso wie - wie postuliert wird - über die hier vorgestellte Musik der Künstler, die bisher noch nicht so sehr vom Fok-Revival haben profitieren können. Man findet Musik, die versucht, ursprüngliche Traditionslinien zu erkunden, aber gleichzeitig auch experimentelle Elemente integriert. Das Projekt ist also - um ein inflationär gebrauchtes Wort zu gebrauchen - "ambitioniert". Das der Compilation den Titel gebende Lied wird insgesamt dreimal vertont. Ansonsten orientieren sich eine Vielzahl der Künstler an traditionellem Material (MARY JANE interpretieren z.B. "Twa Corbies", Traditionals werden ebenfalls u.a. von Charlotte Grieg & Johan Asherton, PUMAJAW oder VENEREUM ARVUM vertont), andere der Beteiligten verwenden eigene Texte (z.B. THE STORY oder Tony Wakefords von M.R. James beeinflusste THE TRIPLE TREE), man hört Folk Rock von MARY JANE von Drehleier getragene Stücke, die sich dem Drone annähern (DROHNE), Melancholisches (SAND SNOWMAN), Experimentelleres (XENIS EMPUTAE TRAVELLING BAND, ENGLISH HERETIC), melodischen Folk (z.B. von der großartigen Sharron Kraus) und auch Unerwartetes (wie z.B. von Martyn Bates, der sich ja schon vor langem auf den drei Alben mit Mick Harris "Murder Ballads" widmete und dessen Stimme normalerweise unverkennbar in ihrer Fragilität und Entrücktheit ist, aber auf seinem Beitrag hier nur eine einsame Flöte erklingen lässt). Weitere Beteilgte sind z.B. der ehemalige DEAD CAN DANCE-Mitstrreiter Peter Ulrich, QUICKTHORN (bei denen STONE BREATH-Mitglied Prydwyn mitsingt) oder SOL INVICTUS, Manches ist etwas arg rückwärtsgewandt (THE OWL SERVICE oder DAMH THE BARD, der vielleicht unfreiwillig komisch wirkt), aber alles in allem ist das eine gerade wegen ihrer Heterogenität innerhalb gewisser Konstanten tolle und nie langwilende Veröffenlichtung. Auch wenn die Rezension leicht enumerativen Charakter hat (das mag in der Natur dieser Veröffenlichung liegen), sollte dennoch (oder gerade deswegen) deutlich geworden sein, dass innerhalb der Gattung Folk eine Menge möglich ist. Rob Young schreibt im WIRE (bezogen auf den Folk, der Anfang der 70er in Großbritannien virulent wurde) sinngemäß dass der Terminus - British Psychedelic Folk am besten dazu geeignet sei, das Spannungsfeld zwischen Bewahrung und Fortschreiten, Land und Stadt, Akustischem und Elektrischem, Selbstgesponnenem und Visonären zu beschreiben. Diese Reibung zwischen diesen (vermeintlichen) Gegensatzpaaren zeight sich auch auf "John Barleycorn Reborn" und das ist durchaus als Lob zu verstehen. Wer im sonst informativen Booklet Informationen zu den Künstlern un einzelnen Tracks vermisst, kann sich ein mehrseitiges pdf-file als Ergänzung von der eigens eingerichteten Website herunterladen - ebenso wie einen dritten Teil, auf dem weitere 33 (!) Tracks zu finden sind (soviel wie auf den ersten beiden CDs zusammen - ein erneuter Verweis auf das Zyklische?)

From Head Heritage: (by Julian Cope)

  First, I'd like to discuss Cold Spring Records' superb double-CD JOHN BARLEYCORN REBORN: DARK BRITANNICA. Available at www.coldspring.co.uk this collection of 33 songs contains some exquisitely dark and eloquent performances mainly by artists I've never before heard. But, like the heathen folk of Waldteufel, Werkraum and Sangre Cavallum, these new performances of such hoary standards as 'John Barleycorn Must Die' and 'North Country Maid' have brought their very essences back to life. My favourites at the present time are most definitely Andrew King's cadaverous delivery of 'Dives & Lazarus' and the tragic eight minutes of Charlotte Greig's epic 'Lay the Bent to the Bonny Broom', which brought me to tears the first coupla times I listened. What a baby!

From Twilight Zone: (by Michele Viali)

  Questo doppio CD è un’iniziativa che esula dagli album di cui siamo soliti parlare, è anche piuttosto lontana dai generi cari alla scena underground, è insomma un unicum di cui si prende oneri e onori la label Cold Spring in collaborazione con la Woven Wheat Whispers, di cui vi raccomando una visitina nel sito web. Tutti o quasi conoscono il mito di origine tardo medievale riguardante John Barleycorn e questo nome tiene a battesimo la release non a caso, dato che il riferimento musicale e testuale è proprio diretto al folk dell’età oscura inglese (la definizione di “Dark Britannica” è quindi indirizzata al quel periodo, non a stili musicali o occultismi). Appunto con questa compilation John Barleycorn rinasce, e rinasce con lui un filone dimenticato dai grandi media. Tanti musicisti britannici in tempi recenti hanno interpretato il folklore della propria patria pur non ricevendo quell’attenzione che gli avrebbe fornito una maggiore notorietà. Questo lavoro mira a far luce su una realtà a cui è stato dato ancora poco spazio e ci istruisce su quel sottobosco che è cresciuto negli anni in una situazione di vero underground prendendo vita esclusivamente dal folklore locale. Ad un ampio numero di artisti sconosciuti si affiancano alcuni nomi di grande notorietà che di certo aiuteranno a promuovere l’iniziativa: su tutti i Sol Invictus che staccano di molto gli altri autori, grazie a una traccia sperimentale e oscura come (nonostante gli anni e gli acciacchi artistici) solo Wakeford sa fare. Interessante anche il brano di Tony Wakeford e Andrew King, uniti nella band The Triple Tree, insieme ad altri nomi importanti di contorno (John Murphy e Renée Rosen su tutti). Lo stesso King si presenta in veste di cantautore singolo con esiti che non si distaccano dagli standard a lui usuali. Presenti anche Matt Howden che con la sua creatura Sieben sa ben penetrare nell’ambiente old folk; Peter Ulrich, storico percussionista dei Dead Can Dance, costruisce un brano medievale rinforzato da una linea vocale elegante; i meno noti While Angels Watch percorrono le sonorità a loro più care con andamenti tribali e marziali non deludendo le attese; menziono in ultimo tra i “famosi” Martyn Bates (ex Eyeless in Gaza) che, chiudendo l’opera con un assolo di flauto, ci riporta ad alcune atmosfere di film pasoliniani come “I racconti di Canterbury”. Le celebrità creano il contorno ad una realtà che è tutta da scoprire. Tra i tanti folkers spiccano The Anvil con la cupa “John Barleycorn Must Die”, i suoni grezzi della The Straw Bear Band in “Trial by Bread & Butter” e Sharron Kraus che con “Horn Dance” riesce, forse nolente, a collegarsi con acts come Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud.

  Questo grande lavoro andrebbe ascoltato a prescindere dai gusti musicali dato che ha una valenza divulgativa di grande portata, ma chi segue progetti come Sangre Cavallum, In Gowan Ring, Waldteufel o Sturmpercht troverà in “John Barleycorn Reborn” il perfetto punto di sutura tra la scena oscura e quella del folk classico. Aggiungo che negli ultimi anni il crescente interesse del settore alternativo (neofolk, neoclassicale certo post industrial in particolare) per le tradizioni e le identità locali ha portato alla riscoperta e valorizzazione di sonorità semi-dimenticate e questa compilation può essere vista anche come uno degli ideali punti di arrivo di una scena musicale che da tempo sta scavando nel proprio passato. Il discorso fu aperto (magari sfiorato) vari anni fa dai Current 93 e dai Fire and Ice, ma solo ora giunge a termine un vero e proprio compendio di british folk attuale per mano di una label underground.

From Dagheisha: (by Roberto Michieletto)

  Parlare di tributo alla tradizione folk britannica è essenziale se consideriamo che la raccolta assembla ben 33 brani e viene pubblicata come lavoro congiunto dalla Cold Spring e dalla Woven Wheat Whispers, un sito web per il download legale di suoni folk e assimilati, su cui, tra l’altro, sarà disponibile la terza parte dell’opera complessiva (con le tre parti che testimoniano la nascita, la morte e la rinascita). Comunque già solo volendo considerare quanto offerto dal doppio CD non ci si può di certo lamentare, poiché i musicisti che hanno preso parte all’operazione di riscoperta della tradizione anglosassone sono tali da giustificare un evidente interesse per l’album, che prende il nome dalla più celebre delle suddette canzoni, ovvero ‘John Barleycorn’. Dall’ascolto (oltre due ore e mezza) emerge un vasto spettro di interpretazioni della musica rurale, naturale, mitica/mitologica, pagana, rituale, antica, bucolica e primitiva, poi diventata folk, ma la cui essenza originaria è ben lontana da quella che si cerca di sdoganare al giorno d’oggi con le derive neo folk e folk apocalittiche (l’aspetto politico non era assolutamente preso in considerazione, ma ci si legava ai cicli vitali della Natura) o Americana (dove le radici sono molto meno profonde, essendo di formazione posteriore). Il suono assume sembianze mutevoli, pur se sufficientemente aderenti alla realtà storica (salvo nel caso degli English Heretic, che optano per soluzioni chitarristiche elettrificate), con un sentito e profondo coinvolgimento dei gruppi, tra cui citerei The Owl Service, Andrew King, Sol Invictus, Sieben, Pumajaw, Peter Ulrich, Electronic Voice Phenomena, Sand Snowman, The Kitchen Cynics, Drohne, Stormcrow, While Angels Watch e Martyn Bates. Pregevole.

From Fatea Records:

  Folk music is as old as the hills, as dark as the night. It flows like a mountain stream and sparkles in the sun. It tells of murder and death. Sex and the babies born, in and out of wedlock. Hard tales of lives striving to make a living. John Barleycorn Reborn is project concieved and delivered by Cold Spring and Wild Wheat Whispers. It's a double cd and an additional download and is one of the best compilations you'll hear in a while. It's subtitled "Dark Britannica", but sheds light on Albion's pagan past as well as neo-pagan themes. A celebration of life on these shores.

From Judas Kiss: (By Lee Powell)

  There are a number of different angles which this review could have come from. From the traditional folk side of things, or perhaps even the neo-folk direction. However, neither seemed to fit properly, so we’ll start somewhere in the middle and see where it takes us.

  Released as a joint project between the hugely influential post-industrial record label Cold Spring and Woven Wheat Whispers, a legal folk and related music download provider, ‘John Barleycorn Reborn’ is a two-CD set collecting together 33 artists (in this set), each presenting one track apiece of dark British folk.

   Comprising three parts (of which this compilation delivers two thirds, with the final part of the life, death, rebirth cycles being available as a download to purchasers of this compilation), ‘JBC’ is a wide and varied exploration of contemporary British artists who work somewhere within the darkened confines of traditional British folk music with hugely impressive results.

  With an amalgamation of both traditional and original songs, the main purpose of the compilation is to showcase the charm and passion that this sub-genre of folk music contains, and show how, amidst the throes of the endless other styles and genres of music available, something so deeply rooted in the past can still have such a strong relevance in the modern world.

  Being released on Cold Spring, there was some worry that a release that was predominately folk would perhaps alienate some of the label’s hardened followers. However, with careful consideration and skilful inclusion, a small number of more neo-folk and alternative names have been delicately interwoven in the fabric of the release, which adds a welcoming hand out to those of you, like myself, who are approaching this release with a wider knowledge of the neo-folk/folk noir genres than anything else under the banner of folk. Andrew King, Sol Invictus, The Triple Tree (Andrew King and Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus), Sieben and While Angels Watch are all represented, and their inclusion is very welcome, as is that of Peter Ulrich (of Dead Can Dance). However, even before you reach any of these artists, it’s immensely difficult not to be swept up with the atmosphere emanating from the plethora of others offering up their own interpretations of dark folk, with disc one exemplifying this perfectly. In fact, the infectious nature of the first five tracks, including the phenomenally catchy and rousing ‘Spirit of Albion’ by Damh The Bard, acts as quite simply a perfect introduction to the dark folk genre, and to what is rapidly shaping up to be a wonderfully enjoyable and highly interesting release.

  Encompassing a myriad of styles under the dark folk umbrella, ‘John Barleycorn Reborn’ takes the listener on a journey to discover times long forgotten, with a passion and intimacy which makes the exploration of these two discs a deeply satisfying journey. It’s wonderful to hear such a diverse range of styles, from the conventional folk that you’d expect, to the more modern-tinged works, to those with a psychedelic edge and a few with a touch of the unconventional, with experimental, even dark ambient-esque touches. Each track keeps you in your toes without being repetitive or samey.

  Of course, as with any compilation there are some tracks which stand out, and some which just seem a little too dirgy. But with 33 artists being represented, this is bound to happen. Tastes vary from listener to listener, so this can’t be construed as too much of a negative aspect at all.

  That said, there are a couple of little niggles I have about this release. The first is the lack of information regarding each artist here. Instead of being included on the liner notes, you’re pointed to the compilation’s accompanying website. Not the biggest gripe in the world, but I would have liked to see this info with the CD. The second (and again, no biggy) is the fact that the third and final part of the album’s cycle is available as a download only. Personally, and I’m sure I’m not the only one, I hate downloading music. I feel that if part three of this set is as essential as the other parts of the compilation, then it should have been included as a physical disc. Griping over.

  As a collection of dark folk music, ‘John Barleycorn Reborn’ delivers a compellingly diverse and highly enjoyable set of recordings, opening up the genre to whole swathes of new listeners, who I’m sure will relish what they hear. And for those who are already familiar with this sub-genre of the folk scene, it delivers a brilliantly put together set of recordings, which capture the essence of folklore and tales of old wonderfully.

  At a time when alt-folk and Americana-tinged ballads are becoming more and more common-place in contemporary music, the timing of ‘JBR’ couldn’t be better. And I’m sure it will deliver a great many hours of listening pleasure, as well as serving as an introduction to a huge range of new artists, for those who explore the two chapters that make up this release.

  With rumours afoot of a Part Two in the pipeline, hopefully this is just the first release of many to explore this dark cousin of the folk movement. 

From Chain D.L.K.: (By Maurizio Pustianaz)

  Created from the collaboration of Cold Spring and Wowen Wheat Whispers (a legal download service of folk and related music reachable at www.wovenwheatwhispers.co.uk) JOHN BARLEYCORN REBORN is a comprehensive compilation of modern British folk music. The double compilation contains 33 different bands/tracks but there's also a downloadable third part for whom who bought the double CD or downloaded it, with further 33 songs. It's hard to describe well what you can find into this compilation because each band, even if they could be filed as folk, give their personal interpretation of folk music. You can find echoes of classic folk music (with flutes, female vocals and strings), folk rock (I know a couple of bands active in the 70's because my brother had some of their tapes: The Pentangle and Steeleye Span and some of these remembered those two) but also experimental, psychedelic and post punk influences (check Clive Powell, English Eretic and While Angels Watch). There are bands known to the neo-folk people thanks to two Tony Wakeford's projects (Sol Invictus and The Triple Tree) and Martyn Bates. I appreciated a lot the whole atmosphere and the way the bands approached the sounds and the themes. You must know that beside the music, JOHN BARLEYCORN REBORN is a project really linked to English people's roots because John Barleycorn is the character of a traditional folk song. From Wikipedia: "...is a personification of the important cereal crop barley, and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky. In the song, John Barleycorn is represented as suffering attacks, death, and indignities that correspond to the various stages of barley cultivation, such as reaping and malting. Some have interpreted the story of John Barleycorn as representing a pagan practice It has also been suggested that John Barleycorn, or rather an early form of the song, may have been used by the early church in Saxon England to ease the conversion of pagans to Christianity from their native Anglo-Saxon polytheism. The reasoning behind this idea is that John Barleycorn represented the ideology of nature cycles, spirits and the harvest of the pagan religion (and may have represented human sacrifice also) but that the song was Christianized in order to show John Barleycorn as a Christ-like figure. Barleycorn, the personification of the barley, encounters great suffering before succumbing to an unpleasant death. However, as a result of this death bread can be produced; therefore, Barleycorn dies so that others may live. Finally his body will be eaten as the bread. Compare this with the Christian concepts of the Sacrament and of Transubstantiation and it is not difficult to imagine how the song might have been beneficial to Christianity. A popular hymn, "We Plough the Fields and Scatter", is often sung at Harvest Festival to the same tune. As shown above, the point of the tale told by the original versions is twofold: it focuses not only on the death and resurrection of John Barleycorn, but also on Barleycorn's revenge upon the tradesmen who misused him".

  Reading this we can understand that the character of John Barleycorn is a multifaceted one with many meanings, from pagan to agricultural. It gathers the life cycle and it help people bonding under his tale.

  JOHN BARLEYCORN REBORN is the first project of this kind and other will come

From Folkforum:

  Dit dubbelalbum geeft een leerzaam - maar zeker ook luisterbaar - inkijkje in wat de Britse dark folk inhoudt. De alternatieve platenmaatschappijen Cold Spring en Woven Wheat Whispers hebben de handen ineen geslagen en laten je kennis maken met de donkere kant van de Britse folk. Leitmotiv bij de samenstelling van dit bijzondere document was ‘seasonal birth, death and rebirth'. Drieëndertig nummers van evenveel groepen of solisten - de een bekender dan de ander - die een mysterieus ver verleden naar nu vertalen.

  En dan gaat om een ver verleden waarover nauwelijks iets op papier staat: The Dark Ages, de tijd tussen het vertrek van Romeinen en de komst van de Saxen zo'n vijftien eeuwen geleden. 

  Je zou denken dat de donkere sound, die nogal wat van deze neofolk kenmerkt, heeft geleid tot de term dark folk. Maar volgens de samenstellers is dat een misverstand. Dark stamt toch echt van Dark Ages, verzekeren zij. Het uitstekend gedocumenteerde CD-boekje bevat nog veel meer van dit soort wijsheden in de vorm van artikelen, essays en citaten. 

  Twee-en-een-half uur gaat het van akoestisch hapklaar tot uitdagend experimenteel. Soms gewoon met gitaar, dulcimer of concertina, maar meer nog met behulp van elementen uit progressieve en experimentele muziek, vaak omgeven met de nodige mystiek. Natuurlijk komen alle cliché's voorbij: manhaftige zang, elfenstemmen, onheilspellende natuurgeluiden als onweer en gure windvlagen, belletjes, veel reverb/galm, feedback, echo, etc. Maar, opgelet, dit dubbelalbum bevat ook muziek die dicht tegen de gangbare Britse folk aanschuurt.

  Een enkele keer raakt het aan de folkrock á la het ‘oude' Fairport zoals in ‘Twa Corbies' van Mary Jane. Meer nummers sluiten aan bij het bekende akoestisch idioom. Enigszins gedateerd (leuke term in dit verband) klinkt het nog in ‘Horn Dance' van Sharron Kraus bij gildetrom, blokfluit en belletjes, of in ‘Dragonfly' door het fluitje en de dulcimer van The Purple Minds Of Lazeron. Prangender wordt het in het bijna acht minuten breed uitgesponnen ‘Lay The Bent To The Bonny Broom' van Charlotte Greig & Johan Asherton met akoestische gitaar en fraaie zang.

  Luister ook eens naar ‘Dives and Lazarus' met Martin Carthy-achtige zang van Andrew King (met de talentvolle Lisa Knapp op viool), of de fraaie samenzang van het echtpaar Rachel McCarron en Sean Breadin bij breekbare en ijle fluitjes, harp, belletjes, driesnarige lier en crwth (lier uit Wales) in het breed uitgesponnen ‘Child 102: Willie and Earl Richard's Daughter' (aka The Birth of Robin Hood).

  Nog intrigerender is de bekende traditional ‘Nottamum Town' door de vervormde psychedelische draailier van Philip G. Martin bij zijn in echo gedoopte stem à la de legendarische Doors-zanger Jim Morrison.

  Onder het hoofdstuk weird valt het werk van The Tripple Tree (Three Crowns) en Sol Invictus (To Kill All Kings). Vervormde violen tillen de remix ‘Ogham On The Hill' van Sieben daar bovenuit. Sieben staat voor violist/zanger Matt Howden, die ook deel uitmaakt van Sol Invictus. Vaneenzelfde hoog niveau is het verstilde ‘Pew Pew' van Quickthorn met vervreemdende zang van Prydwyn bij fraaie harp (Ysbyddaden Bedwawd) en blokfluiten (Koivuläänistä).

  Dan kom je al dichter bij de donkerder experimenten. 

  Van de groep met de vreemdste naam ‘Xenis Emputae Travelling Band' klinkt er nagenoeg dissonante koorzang bij een drone op concertina. Theatrale ‘sprechgesang' in een mist van overstuurde gitaren vol feedback staat voor ‘Hippomania' van English Heretic, een angstaanjagend werkje dat het goed zou doen in een spooktent op de Efteling. Zoals de attractie Droomvlucht daar wel zou varen bij de soundscape ‘Summerhouse' van The A Lords vanwege alle lieve belletjes, fluitjes, klokken, getokkelde snaren en fluitende vogeltjes... 

  Zware galm op het tinwhistlespel in ‘The Resurrection Apprentice' suggereert de echo uit een ver verleden, maar Martyn Bates is toch echt van nu, dat wil zeggen hij wordt al vanaf de jaren 70 gerespecteerd als zanger, tekstschrijver en muzikant in alternatieve rock (Eyeless in Gaza), neo-folk (Twelve Thousand Days) en ambient (Troum). Solo bracht hij ook al een tiental albums met boeiende vaak bewerkte duistere traditie, maar ook eigenzinnig eigen werk. 

  Afijn, je kunt niet elk nummer omschrijven, laat staan de verrassing die je uiteindelijk nog te wachten staat. Want mocht na deze 2 cd's je nieuwsgierigheid zijn gewekt, dan kun je op internet het derde deel gratis downloaden (zie www.wovenwheatwhispers.co.uk). Dat bevat nog eens 33 nummers, zowel van op dit dubbelalbum figurerende namen als van nieuwe. Uiteindelijk gaat het met 2cd en download samen om meer dan vijf uur muziek. Er valt genoeg te ontdekken.

  En voor de liefhebbers die al langer thuis zijn in de dark folk is het goed te weten dat de uitvoeringen van de meeste nummers op ‘John Barleycorn Reborn' nog niet eerder op elpee of cd zijn verschenen. 

From Ultrasonica:

  John Barleycorn doveva morire, almeno nelle intenzioni dei Traffic. E probabilmente lo ha fatto, dopo lunghe sofferenze, come un simbolo, come un Cristo britannico, come il ciclo delle stagioni ed i riti a questo collegati. Poi, nei campi di grano qualcosa torna a germogliare, e ad opera della Cold Spring Records John Barleycorn torna in vita e sussurra attraverso le voci e gli strumenti dei trentatrè invitati alla cerimonia di resurrezione imbastita nell'operazione importante e ambiziosa di questa compilation in doppio cd. E per dirla in sincerità, "Dark Britannica" è un pezzo che deve stare nella nostra collezione, anche qualora il folk – tradizionale e contemporaneo – non sia in cima alle nostre playlist, perché semplicemente questo è un bell'album. La precisazione fatta nelle note di copertina è corretta e programmatica: il termine dark non riferisce necessariamente al mood del lavoro, ma a quella dark age che va dalla dipartita romana all'arrivo dei Sassoni. Simbolicamente pubblicato a Lammas – il giorno del primo raccolto – questo doppio album raccoglie un nutrito gruppo di artisti che devono la propria identità musicale al patrimonio folkloristico britannico. Apre le danze proprio la proposta del tema tradizionale "John Barleycorn" ad opera del duo The Horses of the Gods, ed il leit motiv è messo in chiaro in tutta la sua bellezza ancestrale. Poi, le cerimonie passano di mano e si colorano di volta in volta di toni solari o notturni, maestosi o delicati, sofferenti o gioiosi. Scorre la bellezza pastorale di Damh the Bard con "Spirit of Albion", la mistica tormentata dell'immancabile Sol Invictus con "To Kill all Kings", il legame tra tradizione ed innovazione di "Hippomania" proposto da English Heretic. E ancora, l'elegia notturna sussurrata da Electronic Voice Phenomena in "The Sorrow of Rimmon", il digitale che s'insinua tra le pieghe del rurale di Clive Powell, le declamazioni ipnotiche di Drohne, la poesia scarna del fondamentale Martyn Bates. E molto, molto altro ancora. Non è un album da scaricare, anche per il corredo informativo compreso nel layout, ma soprattutto perché è un prodotto da acquistare. Non prenderà polvere.

From Terrascope: (by Jeff Penczak)

  Accompanied by a massive, 16-page booklet of background essays and interpretive guidelines, as well as a lovingly detailed, 24-page track annotation manual, 'John Barleycorn Reborn' is an incredible 51⁄2-hour, 4xCD set comprised of a formal 2xCD package and an additional 2xCD’s worth of mp3’s available for free download by purchasers of the main set, all compiled by Woven Wheat Whispers founder, Mark Coyle for Cold Spring Records. The album explores the mythos of the John Barleycorn legend across more than 60 tracks, divided into three parts: “birth,” “death” and “rebirth”, from nearly as many diverse “artists largely unknown who make unconventional folk music across Britain.” While some of the artists will be familiar to regular attendees of the Terrastock festivals and readers of the Terrascope, both the online and print editions (Sharron Kraus, Kitchen Cynics, Martyn Bates, Mary Jane, Alphane Moon, et. al), it must be acknowledged that many of these artists are new to me, despite the fact that quite a few are several albums deep into their careers. The beauty of a collection such as this, is that it offers the adventurous listener an opportunity to both discover new artists, while simultaneously being educated about the rich traditional folk song heritage of Britain, via songs whose original documentation stretches back several centuries. For that alone, Coyle and his compadres are to be congratulated. With all the work that has been poured into the set’s accompanying documentation, I’ve elected to concentrate my comments on the songs themselves, leaving their background stories to be gleaned at your leisure. Suffice it to say that this set is one of the most detailed packages you will ever own, with enough heritage for some clever scholars to build either a PhD thesis around, or at least construct a popular Music course for university credit!

  So, having whet your appetite for this lovely trip down through the “dark” ages of British agricultural history, let’s have a listen to what’s inside. With titles like ‘The Wicker Man,’ ‘Spirit of Albion,’ ‘The Scryer and The Shewstone,’ ‘Scythe To The Grass,’ ‘The Wendigo’ and other more esoteric references like ‘Corvus Monedula,’ ‘Tierceron,’ ‘Ognor Mi Trovo, ‘De Poni Amor A Me,’ and ‘Ca The Horse, Me Marra,’ you’d be forgiven for heading for the proverbial hills in the West Country with a stack of Julian Cope’s ‘Modern Antiquarians’ under your arm and a gunnysack full of mead across your backs to fully absorb this collection’s impact. But don’t let that frighten you off – this is not a bunch of Burning Man rejects running naked through the fields trying to reconstruct the Wicker Man. It’s perfectly clear that these musicians take their work very seriously, starting with Wiltshire’s own Horses of The Gods (Mike Ballard and Matty Bane) and their earthy, acoustic interpretation of the set’s namesake. If you only know Traffic’s version, this one will surprise you, as the fairly sparse arrangement seems bettter suited to relating the story than Traffic’s (admitedly transcendent) psychedelic, electric version.

  The Story is the duo of Martin Welham from cult 60’s psych folkies, Forest, and his son, Tom. Their excellent debut album ‘Tale Spin’ is the only original (i.e., non-reissue) release on the wonderful Sunbeam imprint and here they offer up a rousing rendition of the title track from the cult classic, ‘The Wicker Man.’ ‘Spirit of Albion’ is the title track from Damh the Bard’s current album, and it’s a proud, anthemic tribute to the ancient ways and gods of old Britain. Southampton’s Mary Jane are old Terrascope favorites and ‘Twa Corbies’ is their exclusive offering, another traditional song, highlighted by the powerful vocals of Jo Quinn, Steve Barker’s dynamic drumming, and the soaring, almost gypsy-like violin strokings of Gilli Hotson. Think, perhaps, Saint Joan with a medieval twist. Andrew King is another interesting artist who here sets the ancient Christian parable of Lazarus to an electric, droning backing (‘Dives and Lazarus), all powered by the mysterious fiddling of Lisa Knapp. King’s creaky, stentorian vocals, like a cobwebbed Ian Anderson, lends a note of archaic charm to his rendering of this dreary story. King is also a member of Tony Wakeford’s project, The Triple Tree, whose eerie, droning ‘Three Crowns’ is a retelling of the M.R.James short story, ‘A Warning To The Curious,’ which relates the myth of the endless quest to discover the whereabouts of the third buried crown which protects England. Wakeford, himself, is perhaps best known as the leader of the decades old folk noir band, Sol Invictus, who offer up more minimalist, razor sharp drones on the treasonous call to arms, ‘To Kill All Kings.’ And continuing the excellent sequencing that lends the collection a seemless air of one of your own personalized “mix tapes” of dark, traditional British folk tales, Sol Invictus violinist, Matt Howden is up next with his solo project, Sieben (German for ‘seven,’ although I’m not certain that that’s Howden’s preferred reference point). ‘Ogham On The Hill’ is on offer here, in an exclusive remixed version of a track from Howden’s fifth album, 2005’s ‘Ogham Inside The Night,’ and it’s a multi-layered violin/percussion extravaganza over which Howden relates the tale of the Western European holy scriptures which were preserved through carvings on trees and stones.

  Another Terrastock alum, Sharron Kraus is up next with an exclusive track from the sessions from her forthcoming album. ‘Horn Dance’ is the story of the seasonal dance that has been occurring for centuries at places such as Abbot’s Bromley, which the astute listener will no doubt recognise as the title of one of The Green Pajamas’ traditional instrumentals on their ‘Carolers’ Song’ EP. It’s also the official title (i.e., ‘The Abbot’s Bromley Horn Dance’) of the annual “Winter Solabration” that’s taken place on or near the winter solstice for the past 20 years in Denver, Colorado. Adding to Sharron’s realistic recreation of the tale is a field recording from David Moore on pipe and tabor, along with the Adderbury Morris Men, who presumably were dressed up in the traditional garb of a Fool, Hobby Horse, Maid Marian, Bowman, et. al.

  The British folk tradition includes scores of tales of knights wooing fair maidens, but none are as strikingly beautiful as ‘Lay The Bent To The Bonny Broom,’ a collaboration between one of Wales’ finest traditional artists, Charlotte Greig (whose ‘Quite Silent’ was one of our favorite releases from 2005) and French artist, Johan Asherton. Here she lends her delicate vocals to this heartbreaking tale (originally written down over three centuries ago) over Asherton’s simple, acoustic guitar backing. Peter Ulrich has a long and storied careeer dating back to his days as the percussionist in Dead Can Dance and contributor to 4AD’s This Mortal Coil project. His medieval two-step, ‘The Scryer and The Shewstone’ originally appeared on his 2005 album, ‘Enter The Mysterium,’ and it’s a jolly, pied piper of a track that’s led by an incessant melody from Debbie Marchant’s recorder. It regales us with the tale of Dr. John Dee, the mysterious court physician/magician to Queen Elizabeth I. Terrascope readers will also be familiar with the work of Dafydd Roberts and his wife, Ruth, purveyors of hauntingly strange experimental works from the Welsh hinterlands (well, Ceredigion) bearing enigmatic names like Our Glassie Azoth and Alphane Moon. They run the Oggum Record label, but have also released several fine, experimental, alchemical concoctions on Camera Obscura. Here they give us the relatively sedate (for them), but no less beautiful ‘Where The Hazel Grows,’ which has a hushed, almost liturgical air. The work of Prydwyn/Green Crown and B’Eirth/In Gowan Ring were the first pieces that sprung to mind.

  The second part of the set, ‘Death,’ is “themed to John Barleycorn’s symbolic death as Autumn turns to Winter at Samhain.” Nottingham’s Matt Fullwood (aka The Anvil) begins the death trip with a variation of the titular track entitled ‘John Barleycorn Must Die.’ Again, all preconceptions left over from Traffic’s version must be jettisoned to appreciate this rather crude recording, with distorted guitar backing and metalic percussive poundings emulating both Fullwood’s nom de group and the mortal and pestal sound of Mr. Barleycorn being ritualistically and symbolically ground into submission. Fans of Anne Briggs and Lal Waterson will marvel at the discovery of Liverpool’s Tinkerscuss (the duo of Erin and Brony Holden, who’ve been holding court in the Cotswalds for the past two decades), who cover Waterson’s ‘To Make You Stay’ from her ‘Bright Phoebus’ album. Soft vocals soar sweetly over the simple, acoustic backing, with the occasional chiming bell acompaniment. Another duo, Orphian and LSD, are the enigmatic artists behind Electronic Voice Phenomena, whose ‘The Sorrow of Rimmon’ is anogther eerie electronic, experimental folk composition that the pair refer to as “space folk,” although old schoolers may find a lot of the work of Delia Derbyshire and David Vorhaus’ White Noise (‘An Electric Storm,’ Island, 1968) cowering within.

  Pete Jardine and Dave Salsbury (aka The Purple Minds of Lazeron) combine acoustic guitars, bodhran, whistles and percussion on ‘Dragonfly,’ a playful little instrumental as light and meandering as the title suggests. With the assistance of the other worldly vocals of Moonswift, Sand Snowman paints the lovely acoustic ballad, ‘Stained Glass Morning’ and with the flower child monikers like those, you’d be right if you imagined the track to be the work of old hippies living on a commune sitting around in (stoned) circles singing poems to nature! From the Dorset Paeans Collective, sally forth The A. Lords, Nicholas Palmer and Mike Tanner, whose modus operandi is “making songs and instrumentals about Dorset recorded in natural surroundings.” A church organ, balalaika, dulcimer, glockenspiel and half dozen other esoteric instruments merge with field recordings of Dorset’s birdlife on the atmospheric instrumental, ‘Summerhouse,’ which is as soft and gentle as a summer’s afternoon nap in an English garden. Shhh…, don’t wake the little ones….

  One of our oldest and dearest friends here at the Terrascope is the prolific, Aberdeen-based songsmith Alan Davidson, who’s recorded practically an entire library’s worth of albums as The Kitchen Cynics. ‘The Guidman’s Ground’ is a prime example of one of his strongest suits: putting archaic stories on top of his heavily treated guitar backing. Quickthorn’s unpronounceable membership (Ysbyddaden Bedwawd on harp, Koivuläänistä on recorders and the aforementioned Prydwyn on vocals) belie their simple accompaniment to ‘Pew Pew,’ an almost hallucinogenic dreamscape that is hopefully a portent of more releases to come. Edinburgh resident Clive Powell has been recording improvised and archaic music with his cohort, Sedayne (more about whom in a moment), and his a capella rendition of the old Tyneside and Northumberland folk song ‘Reed Sodger’ gives you an idea of the type of May carols that were popular on the streets of Newcastle back in the day. And it probably doesn’t come any more traditional that Venereum Arvum’s ‘Child 102: Willie and Earl Richard’s Daughter (aka The Birth of Robin Hood),’ a 200-year old Scottish ballad set to a nearly 800-year old French melody! The band is the husband/wife duo of Sean Breadin (the aforementioned Sedayne) and Rachel McCarron and save for some esoteric instruments like kemence and crwth and Rachel’s drone, this is another a capella arrangement which highlights that popular style of storytelling that preserved the great myths of olde.

  I think you all will recognise the ancient melody of ‘Nottamun Town’ (a variation, I believe of Nottingham) – even Dylan nicked it (for ‘With God On Our Side,’ although that melody has also been atributable to the old Irish folk song, ‘The Merry Month of May’). Philip G. Martin (aka Drohne)’s interpretation on his hurdy-gurdy and wah-wah vibro drones is probably the most unique renditions I’ve heard to date, although I must also admit that Martin delivers one of the most spot-on Julian Cope impersonations I’ve heard to date! But I must caution the listener that the extended headswirling instrumental coda – sort of a duet between his drone and hurdy-gurdy machines – will have you popping seasickness pills like breath mints!

  Stormcrow is family project that’s new to me, but the strident, storming pronouncements on high from dual vocalists Amanda Hadlett and Sarah Jay, combined with the fierce, 12-string guitar strumming of Sarah’s dad (and, presumably Amanda’s brother), Mark instill ‘Gargoyle’ (from their 2005 ‘Celtic Twilight’ album) with a heavy dose of anthemic, Celtic pride. Imagine a female-fronted Alarm or Billy Bragg with ethnic, as opposed to political pride. Next we hear Doug Peters’ ‘Pact,’ an old fashioned folk song/story set to a powerful marching beat, and finally, our dear old Terrastock friend, Martyn Bates wraps up this “Death” trip with a new track from his forthcoming album, ‘The Resurrection Apprentice,’ wherein he combines his love of the traditional folk lore of the British Isles with his penchant for creating exciting, experimental psychedelic-tinged folk. Here, his solo on the pipes, recalls the centuries old tradition of beckoning John Barleycorn back into life...

  So, we’ve given you an extensive overview of the tracks included on this mammoth set, and there are about two dozen more ranging from field recordings to more esoteric, experimental and electronic folk. There are artists delving into psychedelic, pagan folk, wyrdfolk, and more folk lore set to music that is sure to please, intrigue and inspire every musical pallette. So if you have any interest at all in the British folk tradition from a historical perspective, or British folk music in general, I encourage you to pick up this peerless set, which history will no doubt one day acknowledge as one of the consummate releases in the genre, as well as the epitome of British traditional music in the 21st century. It also forms a magical companion to Timothy Renner’s definitive wyrdfolk compendium, ‘Hand/Eye.’

From Psychedelic Folk:

 What could be a better symbol for the deep traditions of British Isles folk but the song and image of “John Barleycorn”? The song is, first of all, one of the oldest folk songs in British folk repertoire - written down already in 1588- ; it knows several versions and numerous interpretations by many folk and folkrock bands. Secondly, it also refers to some of the oldest and longest living traditions in the UK, where “John Barleycorn” stands for a personification of the harvest of grain, in the way so that people felt more connected with a bond to all the things in nature they should know about, and feel it just like or at least compare it with a living entity, with a personification and name. This was a way of thinking, more than a belief, as long as people could get a grip on circumstances as long as it helped. Such ways of thinking only becomes a belief that is tested, when it does not work too well, making from it a religious or magic-paganistic tool. When the real bond with its purpose tends to get lost, a tool like this in such circumstances often tends to become more something with a religious aspect, something which in this case never happened. It remains in existence for a very long time under the form of folklore, connected with social activities that respected certain natural rhythms. It is this kind of folklore which in fact was something that knows several similarities and variations all over the world, depending on natural circumstances and dealing with what grows in a place. Unfortunately from such habits and associations, some places in the world leave little traces of their existence. In certain places anything that reminds outsiders of something similar becomes associated with carnavelsque folklore or otherwise is not recognised and more associated with a “primitive” nature or for them, long gone past, full of superstitions of beliefs. All activities around it also looks for them very “shamanistic”, with things like people dancing around fires with animal heads. Especially in Africa, Tibet and Finland,… we still knows these traces well, and at several places they indeed became interwoven with superstitions, at times of connecting dubious interpretations with new solutions so that it became a new form of manipulating truth, like a new form of magic, a mixed portioned shamanism or otherwise religion, based upon vague mistakes in thinking and ideas of how to restore them in a desired direction, but without feeling the underlying truth, well outside the after-effects of especially, its manipulation. Also in England some origins of folklore still exist but often also grew obscure and became darker by imagination and fears, stimulated also by associating them a bit too quickly with paganism or even “witchcraft” as an opposite to Christianized religion, as a fearful place of boundless free imagination, which says much more of how much we forgot the right, practical, loose-but-correct connections they originally had. People try to capture the original ideas or sometimes only images or ghosts of it again with personal creativity trying to enrich with imagination an empty bottle of connections in life with nature, using various angles now trying to fill in the gaps, with ideas that also include paganism, as well a pure personal world of imagination, however with no social context. In that way the individual interpretations tends to search something unique, by discovering their own creativity as honest as they can, to make the creation of any symbols rise up spontaneously. But these personal worlds are also dark, and left on their own.

 Mark Coyle took over a few years ago the lead over the wyrd folk newsletter Bruton Town (now New Bruton Town, with Tony Dale and me on the margins). A bit more recently he also established a folk and dronefolk download service called Woven Wheat Whispers. With his big interest in -Green Man related- old English folk traditions, it didn’t take too long before they started working on this compilation. They collected a 3 CDs full of material, and divided them into 3 parts reflecting the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Only two parts were published on the CD, while the third part is only available as an additional free download for those who purchase the first 2 parts.

  But why “Dark Britannia”? The light and bright mainstream folk starts from learning to repeat traditionals from books and hearing them from other groups performing. Other artists start to play acoustic music often with less awareness of traditional music, but also they also come to traditional music to inspire ; there is very much something of this in the British genes… And while the underground folk scene in the US gets support, because they are free to go and perform as they wish, the UK underground folk have less ways to go (just try to go to the US as a ‘musician’, and not as a tourist). The feeling of starting them from the underground while being aware of so many things, also in the UK there was started a neo-folk scene, lead by groups like Current 93 (not listed) and darker and more minimal people like Sol Invictus (listed twice). Besides neo-folk here’s also listed as just a handful of medieval folk groups (mostly hurdy-gurdy related) or groups playing old instruments (the Sedayne related projects). The true folk and the few folk-rock artists (Mary Jane) which are listed here are different from purists and traditionalists, because they find creative sound equally important. Their approaches are for me most rewarding, because they hold the middle well between inspiration, listening to sounds, and following structured traditions. Most of these lean gently towards the acidfolk genres. Especially a large part of CD1 featured many of these such artists. All tracks are enjoyable enough, some are really great. Alone for its hidden backgrounds, there’s a lot to keep you busy, and is worth researching. A fine compilation which gives you already a clue of the underground acoustic scene in the UK.

From Alternativ Musik: (by Marius Meyer)

  Bezug nehmend auf die sagenumwobene Figur John Barleycorn aus dem britischen Folk erschien in einer Zusammenarbeit von Cold Spring Records und Woven Wheat Whispers nun eine Zusammenstellung, die sich der personifizierten Gerste und den daraus entstehenden Getränken widmet. Nachdem Jack London bereits ein Buch so betitelte (in Deutschland unter dem Titel König Alkohol erhältlich), nun also die Wiedergeburt des John Barleycorn auf einer ansprechenden Doppel-CD. Mit 33 Stücken auf über zweieinhalb Stunden ist die CD mehr als gut bestückt und deckt ein großes Spektrum an Folk und folkähnlichen Klängen ab.

  Geht man von Cold Spring und sonstigen dort erschienenen Veröffentlichungen aus, so ist diese Veröffentlichung so etwas wie ein Novum, denn diese Veröffentlichung beinhaltet weitaus mehr als Neofolk, sondern schlägt auch sehr in die traditionelle Kerbe. Dafür ist sie vielseitig und beinhaltet eine gute Umsetzung ihrer Thematik. Musikalisch wird dabei ein Brückenschlag von Bands, die typisch für das Cold Spring-Umfeld sind und solchen, die eindeutig der traditionellen Spielweise britischer Folklore zuzurechnen sind, geschafft. Bekannte Namen treffen auf heimliche Hits – diese Formel gilt vermutlich für Hörer aus beiden Richtungen. Auf der (zumindest für Leser dieser Seite) vermutlich bekannteren Seite sind Namen wie Sol Invictus, Andrew King und Sieben zu vernehmen, die allesamt ansprechende Beiträge abliefern, bei denen man nicht den Eindruck bekommt, es wären nur Verwertungen von nicht albumtauglichem Material.

  Richtig interessant wird es aber vor allem da, wo man die Namen noch nicht so oft oder sogar überhaupt nicht gehört hat bisher, lassen sich hier doch gleichermaßen Schönheit wie Unerwartetes entdecken. Ein heimlicher Hit begegnet beispielsweise auf der ersten CD in dem Zusammenspiel von Charlotte Greig und Johan Asherton, die gemeinsam den Titel Lay The Bent To The Bonny Broom beisteuern. Harmonisch gezupfte Gitarren mit dezenter Bass-Untermalung, alles akustisch gehalten, darüber sehr schöner Wechselgesang von Mann und Frau. Ein Stück, das Wärme ausstrahlt. Wie so viele auf dieser Zusammenstellung. Aber es wird auch – wie schon erwähnt – unerwartet, oder auch ungewöhnlich. John Barleycorn: His Life, Death And Resurrection von der Band mit dem unkonventionellen Namen Xenis Emputae Travelling Band fröhnt gelegentlich der Dissonanz und baut seltsame Klangsphären auf, nur um sich im Nachhinein dann doch wieder dem Folk zuzuordnen.

  Wie ersichtlich wird: Eine interessante Zusammenstellung, die viel beinhaltet. Es ist im Rahmen einer Rezension natürlich unmöglich, jeden Titel einzeln zu erwähnen. Nur soviel sei gesagt: Es lohnt sich! Wer diese Doppel-CD sein Eigen nennt, bekommt außerdem noch exklusiv Zugang zu einem dritten Teil, den man sich online herunterladen kann. Dieser beinhaltet weitere 33 Stücke, bei denen sowohl noch weitere Künstler zu finden sind als auch solche, die bereits auf der Doppel-CD beteiligt sind. Dadurch wächst die Zusammenstellung am Ende auf über fünf Stunden an. Dies ist zwar ein ziemlicher Superlativ, aber selbst wenn man nicht alles hört: Es gibt viel zu entdecken!

From Ultrasonica: (by Jackie Low)

  John Barleycorn doveva morire, almeno nelle intenzioni dei Traffic. E probabilmente lo ha fatto, dopo lunghe sofferenze, come un simbolo, come un Cristo britannico, come il ciclo delle stagioni ed i riti a questo collegati. Poi, nei campi di grano qualcosa torna a germogliare, e ad opera della Cold Spring Records John Barleycorn torna in vita e sussurra attraverso le voci e gli strumenti dei trentatrè invitati alla cerimonia di resurrezione imbastita nell’operazione importante e ambiziosa di questa compilation in doppio cd. E per dirla in sincerità, “Dark Britannica” è un pezzo che deve stare nella nostra collezione, anche qualora il folk – tradizionale e contemporaneo – non sia in cima alle nostre playlist, perché semplicemente questo è un bell’album. La precisazione fatta nelle note di copertina è corretta e programmatica: il termine dark non riferisce necessariamente al mood del lavoro, ma a quella dark age che va dalla dipartita romana all’arrivo dei Sassoni. Simbolicamente pubblicato a Lammas – il giorno del primo raccolto – questo doppio album raccoglie un nutrito gruppo di artisti che devono la propria identità musicale al patrimonio folkloristico britannico. Apre le danze proprio la proposta del tema tradizionale “John Barleycorn” ad opera del duo The Horses of the Gods, ed il leit motiv è messo in chiaro in tutta la sua bellezza ancestrale. Poi, le cerimonie passano di mano e si colorano di volta in volta di toni solari o notturni, maestosi o delicati, sofferenti o gioiosi. Scorre la bellezza pastorale di Damh the Bard con “Spirit of Albion”, la mistica tormentata dell’immancabile Sol Invictus con “To Kill all Kings”, il legame tra tradizione ed innovazione di “Hippomania” proposto da English Heretic. E ancora, l’elegia notturna sussurrata da Electronic Voice Phenomena in “The Sorrow of Rimmon”, il digitale che s’insinua tra le pieghe del rurale di Clive Powell, le declamazioni ipnotiche di Drohne, la poesia scarna del fondamentale Martyn Bates. E molto, molto altro ancora. Non è un album da scaricare, anche per il corredo informativo compreso nel layout, ma soprattutto perché è un prodotto da acquistare. Non prenderà polvere.

From The Coven Of Janus: (by Simon Jay)

  For this review we’re heading off in a new direction, because we’re venturing into the world of folk music. Now before any of you run away yowling in horror and anguish at the very thought of folk music, let me start by explaining a few things. First of all, especially for those of you from Britain or at least familiar with its culture, forget about the image of middle-aged bushily-bearded red-faced men dressed in Aran sweaters swigging ‘real ale’ from pewter tankards and lustily singing away in your local or Morris Men with bells on their ankles wielding clubs and enacting traditional dances on village greens in quaint English villages (which seem to be mostly peopled by rich refugees from London, trying to get away from the rat-race and who want to live the country life dream but find the reality being church bells on a Sunday morning or noxious animal smells from the farm next-door) on ‘traditional’ festival days. Forget about ‘and with a hey nonny-no my lass’ and all that crap. Or even of Fairport Convention and Steeleye bloody Span and all that folk-rock malarkey. Think instead of what folk songs were really like in the context of when they were originally composed in centuries gone by, when life was often nasty, short and brutish to coin a phrase or when the common-folk had no power, not even over their own lives. The songs were often biting commentaries on social and political issues of the time, often expressing in clever language the bitterness of the singer re: his position in life (and those of others) or satirising the monarch or local baron, whilst attempting to NOT attract their attention just in case it resulted him in possibly losing his head. This is DARK-FOLK, a tradition that allies itself with the concerns of the common people and is less about the popular conception of what folk-music has become since the 50’s, allowing a freedom of expression and experimentation that is conspicuously missing from mainstream interpretations. 

  Equally buried deeply in some ditties was a subtext of paganism and pagan agricultural rites that had been supplanted by and looked down upon by Christianity, plus ruminations on both death & its ever-ready willingness to visit itself upon humanity at any time and the annual cycle of birth, death and rebirth, a cycle that is close to the agricultural community and so this is truly a music of the common-folk. Many country-dwellers wished both to keep the ‘old ways’ alive AND hide them from the prying eyes of religious and political power. This album, which is divided into three sections (two of which are on this CD and one which is only available for download [sorry, you’re going to have to buy the album in order to get the last part...]), is a serious delving into a strain of folk called dark-folk and revolves around the figure of the Corn King John Barleycorn, who is a pagan representative of the annual agricultural cycle that sows, harvests and turns the barley into ale (birth, death and resurrection). Throughout history many civilisations and societies have personified this annual cycle in various ways and through many myths – in Britain kings were sacrificed (often willingly) to ensure the fecundity of the coming year by spilling his blood on the land (as it was often believe that crops grew by the grace of the king), in Egypt there was Osiris, while there were various and numerous other gods in the ancient world that fulfilled the same role, plus of course there is also Christ, who can be seen to be the ultimate evolution of this idea. In fact, the traditional song John Barleycorn, in existence since at least 1588 but probably of far older provenance, sung here by ‘The Horses of the Gods’ and the 1782 Burns version by the ‘The Anvil’, was used by the Christian church as a means of conversion because it closely resembled the life of Christ and made it easier for the pagans to grasp the central concept embodied in the invading religion. 

  Over the course of the 33 tracks on here we have everything from traditional folky motifs utilising acoustic instruments (Sharon Kraus “Horn Dance” & Peter Ulrich “The Scryer & the Shewstone”) to updated treatments using electric guitars and modern instrumentation (Tinkerscuss “To Make you Stay”& Sand Snowman “Stained Glass Morning”) and extending to almost folk-ambient (Sol Invictus “To kill All Kings” and Far Black Furlong “Icy Solstice Eye”) and experimental (English Heretic “Hippomania”, The Triple Tree “Three Crowns” and Sieben “Ogham on the Hill (Remix)) and everything in between (eg, The Straw Beat Band’s “Trial by Bread and Butter” reminded me strongly of Marc Bolan). But whatever the means used to construct the song what we have here are probably the deepest expressions of the folk current extant in Britain today, and the majority are about as far away from the popular idea of what constitutes ‘folk’ music and certainly don’t conform to the stereotype usually associated with the genre. Stand out tracks for me were The A Lords’ “Summerhouse”, a beautifully atmospheric sound-painting of summer, just lazily drifting along without a care for anything but the moment & Clive Powell’s “Reed Sodger” (a sodger is a northern English dialect word for a scarlet ladybird), a haunting interpretation of a traditional song, sung in dialect, that had shivers running up and down my spine with its ghostly ambience and evocation of mysterious trackways, fields & hedgerows and its painting of a picture of a long bygone age– in fact for me this one track summed up the whole album’s dark air and is my absolute favourite. Running a close second is the track following on, Venereum Arvum’s equally evocative “Child 102 Willie and Earl Richard’s Daughter”, which is a more traditional rendering. 

  This is a massive project to uncover and present for serious consideration the dark heart of Britain through the songs of nature, its cycles and the inevitable course of human and agricultural life, repeated ad infinitum over the endless millennia and epochs – and dispelling any notions of folk being a pretty decoration put on top of modern revivals of ‘traditional’ country festivals with their commercial aims of attracting the tourists and appealing to the lowest common denominator to get the numbers and money flowing in. Whilst there is a place for this it often varnishes the true face of both the music and the country life it’s tied to. I commend Justin Mitchell of Cold Spring, Woven Wheat Whispers & Mark Coyle (who curated this collection) for having the vision to put this album together and releasing it to a hopefully broader audience. One thing I can offer as advice though – just don’t be put off by the ‘folk’ epithet; explore some forgotten corners of music along with the past and the people who inspired them, their rites, their beliefs, their lives and lore, I can guarantee it’ll be a trip worth taking.

From Neil Houlton

  I have just received, and had my first listen to this collection of English folk music. It is, without a doubt, a work of national importance. Nothing else has come close to bringing the sounds of field and village, blackbird and blacksmith, spirit and and earth together, and giving it all context and meaning.
  
  This is the best and most important collection of Britannica folk music ever. You have begun to get to heart of who we are as a people, the way the past connects with the now and the fact that we lose everything if we lose one craft person or the craft they celebrate.

  "Woven Wheat Whispers" and "Cold Spring" are to congratulated on the gathering in of such talent and musicianship, I raise my glass of foaming ale to you all.