Charm of Finches – Marlinchen In The Snow

Indie Folk | Chamber Pop

66%

 

There’s no right or wrong time to become a fan of a band or artist. You can’t keep up with every new album that gets released, things are bound to pass you by, what matters is that you’re listening now. That being said, when writing about music I often feel, for better and for worse, that being there from the start counts for something. The journey is as important as the destination, and understanding how an act’s sound and approach to songwriting has changed over the years provides vital context that may tip a good album into greatness or vice versa. Diving into an established band’s work means either engaging with an album with little knowledge of the road that led there, or it comes with a stack of homework to listen to – during which time, how many other records may be passing you by. 

Sometimes however, it’s nice to jump into the unknown and guess at what paths might have led there. Aussie duo Charm of Finches have been a name on my radar for a while now. A longer while than I might have guessed it seems, as Marlinchen In The Snow marks the pair’s forth full length outing. It’s a record that seems to pull me in three different directions. First and foremost being their harmony driven indie folk sound. Sisters Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes manage to operate on the same wavelength, acting as one voice, in a way that many reach for yet only a handful are able to capture with this level of grace. Album highlight ‘Leave It All Behind’ is an enchanting wonderland every bit as spellbinding as The Staves and First Aid Kit at their very best. The slow muted swell of ‘Atlantis’ true to its name captures a sense of underwater serenity, gently drifting in the undertow away from the chaotic crash of waves at the surface. As a Paper Kites fan, it’s a particular delight to hear Sam Bentley’s guest vocals appearing on the introspective balladry of ‘If You Know Me’. I especially adore how well the track knows how to balance placing his voice into the spotlight and absorbing him seamlessly into the sisters’ harmonies. 

While this melodic indie folk sound is where the duo feels most at home and accomplished, for that very reason it also feels like the least interesting part of this record. It’s refined to such a brilliant sheen that it’s hard to see where it can go next. I’m more intrigued by the parts which show somewhat unfulfilled promise and offer a different direction in which to grow. Not all of the album’s more straightforward pop cuts for instance quite manage to stick the landing – ‘On My Own’s synth work and simple beat feels a little too generic – but opening track ‘Clean Cut’ feels like an important stepping stone towards something special. The emphatic drums, breezy guitar and sublime string arrangement all tap into something altogether more grand and anthemic which I would love to hear developed further. 

The final piece of the puzzle is found in the few precious moments where the sisters dabble in their darker side. ‘Bend and Break’ has a rich gothic elegance to it, somewhere between a Victorian ballroom and Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads, which suits the pair down to the ground. I was already enchanted by it long before its poetic opening lines lilted their way across expanse – “Let my fragmented thoughts, Scatter into the night, Let them become little stars, In a far off flight“. The simple acoustic folk of the title track should seem positively austere by comparison, but the atmosphere and storytelling on ‘Marlinchen in the Snow’ had me just as spellbound. The retelling of the twisted Grimm’s fairy-tale The Juniper Tree, delivered with such beautiful harmonies, is haunting in every sense of the word. We get a mere two and a half minutes of this side of them, when my heart longs for a whole album that delves even deeper in to the darkest recesses of this murky fairy-tale forest. Fingers crossed we’re able to hear that record one day. I may not have been here from the start, but based on the immense promise I’ve heard on Marlinchen, I’m here till the end.