Album Review: Fool's Ghost - Dark Woven Light
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
I’ve played this on a regular basis since it arrived on my list. It is simply stunning and delivered with a delicious irony. A winter record, the elegy for the apocalypse, the timing couldn’t have been more ideally planned given the current climate.
Fool’s Ghost are a duo comprising Nick Thieneman (Young Widows, Breather Resist) and Amber Thieneman (Liberation Prophecy, Sandpaper Dolls), the album was recorded in 2018, in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky with producer Kevin Ratterman.
‘Dark Woven Light’ provides ten tracks that evoke stark landscapes and barren vistas. Haunting ethereal passages, draped with atmosphere, this is described as heavy music distilled through a crystalline lens. From the opening bars of ‘Epilogue’, the listener is transported through the personal experience and threads of real loss that loop. It is melancholic in the extreme but with sparks of light and melody that lift the songs away from the gloom and darkness. The simple guitar echoes, gentle keys add to the ambience and Amber Theineman’s delicate vocals captivate.
The album’s broader feeling takes on the weight of the world; it really is an anthem for our times. ‘Golden’ brings heaviness without the need for crashing riffs and pounding drums. ‘Fugue’ provides a haunting feel, the gentle balance of the music simultaneously soothing and unnerving. A similar range of emotions evoke from ‘Chasing Time’ whilst there is a chilling darkness on ‘In Between’, the interplay between guitar, vocals and piano dramatic and intense.
It’s evident after one listen to this album that there is a deep connection between the pair, the music a spark that lights their creative touch-paper. With all writing for the band done together, their chemistry is very much part of their fabric. Alas it will be sometime before we get to see them live, whereby all accounts they are something else. In the meantime, light the candles, pour the wine and allow the lullaby for ghosts to cascade over your very soul. This is beautiful.
Prosthetic Records will release Dark Woven Light on March 20.
