Trad-folk rabble rousers from a bevvy of renowned musicians with a keen understanding on the heritage of the genre and an enviable imagination for how to take it bounding into the future.
The astral folk outfit—comprised of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman— mixes the ancient, mystical medium of transatlantic traditional folk music with a contemporary, collective brush. the resulting album, bonny light horseman, is an elusive kind of sonic event: a bottled blend of lightning and synergy that will excite fans of multiple genres, eras, and ages. This is colourful, textured work: a lush and loving ode to the past with one eye fixed on the present. “There’s a palpable through line: a sense that the spirit of these ancient songs can be secured in the face of radical transformation”
What seemed at first like a fun side project has turned into one of the year’s most re-playable albums. Bonny Light Horseman are a new supergroup of Anais Mitchell, Eric D Johnson (Fruit Bats), and The National/Craig Finn/Hiss Golden Messenger/Josh Ritter collaborator (and now member of Paul Banks’ new band Muzz) Josh Kaufman — is steeped in centuries-old tradition, but they sound like a breath of fresh air. Their debut album is a mix of traditional folk songs (including the one they’re named after) and originals, and Bonny Light Horseman often drastically rework the traditionals and make them entirely their own. It’s an album that could appeal to fans of classic folk rock like Fairport Convention as much as to more recent indie folk acts like Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver (whose Justin Vernon appears on the album and released it on 37d03d, the label he runs with The National’s Aaron Dessner, who also played on the album), and it’s one of the most refreshing albums in this style to be released in recent memory.
The new song from Bonny Light Horseman, “Deep In Love,” began as a Fruit Bats sketch, until Josh Kaufman recognized its uncanny (and unplanned) similarity to a traditional tune by that name. available on 37d03d Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 