ALASDAIR ROBERTS - Spoils
Friday, July 17, 2009 at 09:00AM 
On Spoils, the dark clown-prince of contemporary Scottish folk delivers his most visionary, fully-formed screed since the days of his old band Appendix Out, a veritable song cycle where part begets tastefully-arranged part while never seeming tacked-on. With tongue-twisting, dictionary-rifling efficacy, Ali Roberts spews forth beautifully spooked meditations where the ancient meets the modern, whose subjects quest and battle whether seeking primordial inspiration, overseeing the three stages of their life, scurvily dreaming they're the namesake of the Luddite movement set to rebarbarize the world, or just looking for their legs after somehow running across the countryside for a whole year without them. If you know and love peer and labelmate Bonnie "Prince" Billy or the more traditional/vocal facet of countryman Richard Youngs' work (half the drumming here is by Alex Neilson, a collaborator with both men and leader of his own highly-recommended Fairport/Steeleye-style troupe on Honest Jon's, Trembling Bells), you'd do well to acquaint yourself with Roberts' fourth solo full-length, one that's revealing itself to be more and more of a career peak the more spins and deep listens we give it.
Reader Comments (1)
Great review Craig. Well done.