Rachael Dadd – Bite The Mountain
Much has been made about the resurgence of folk music in the last few years. This renaissance has taken place in two main incarnations: “pop” folk (see Mumford and Sons et al ) and a contemporary take on the traditional (see The Unthanks et al). One area that has had more limited press is one of experimental folk. A genre that probably strikes fear into the hearts of many, but one which Rachael Dadd has embraced as her own as a young artist. Dadd stands out with a unique approach. An artist and songwriter who’s continually on the move, she adopts a magpie, do-it-yourself approach to her writing. Bite The Mountain was recorded, mainly on to tape, during a 2 month tour around Japan, a country she’s embraced as a second home. A talented multi-instrumentalist in her own right, she plays clarinet, banjo, guitar, thumb piano and more. She’s also joined by some players she encountered on her travels including experimental Japanese musician Ichi, Japanese composer Aki Tsuyuko, Inada Makoto from improvisational band PAAP, and Maher Shalal Hash Baz member Yumi Ozaki. With these accomplices it would be churlish and naive to classify Dadd with the pop-folk pretenders. Here is a young artist who wants to do something different, to combine her predominantly folk influences with more experimental and non-routine arrangements. Continue reading on The Liminal.
