Review: The Rowan Amber Mill - 'Through Dark Polished Glass'

They say variety is the spice of life and this is certainly true in the life of a music blogger. After the magnificent clamour of The Real Codington Factory in the last review comes something quite, quite beautiful. I've been an admirer of The Rowan Amber Mill for some time, eagerly snapping up CDs on release and spending many an hour washed in the aural, folky bliss. RAM is ostensibly Stephen Stannard but past releases have featured such folk illuminaries as Angeline Morrison and Emily Jones. For 'Through Dark Polished Glass', however, Stannard goes it alone and has produced an album of exquisite beauty suffused with meaning and atmosphere.

'Through Dark Polished Glass' is, as described on the Bandcamp page, "A mystical journey through twisting tales of the English Civil Wars, all (fore)seen through the medium of Dr John Dee's scrying Glass. A journey which we discover how much / little times change." Reading that conjures up images of Vincent Price in 'The Witchfinder General' and that is apt as the album has a strong cinematic feel to it. However, as beautiful as the music is, we mustn't lose track of the real message of this album - the divisions caused by the Civil War are prevalent in the here and now - a nation divided albeit not by war (just yet) but by a callous and uncaring 'ruling' class who care not a jot for the 'little' people. Add to that the clusterfuck that was Brexshit and COVID and you have a nation at war with itself. Thus the album is imbued with sadness, a gentle anger and a genuine poignancy.

Musically it is alluring and positively sparkles. All the tracks are played, sung, recorded, produced and mixed by Stephen Stannard, well all bar one; 'The Digger's Song' is a trad. song but so seamlessly does it fit in one needs to be told. Whilst it is a folk album (or folktronica if you like) with regard to instrumentation, songs and structure, it has a feel of the early seventies psychedelic troubadours - a laid back congeniality that belies the seriousness of the theme. Stannard's voice, as wonderful as it is, never strives to be the focal point and shares the spotlight wonderfully with the music. From a personal viewpoint 'Through Dark Polished Glass' is a wonderful addition to the Rowan Amber Mill canon, which makes the news that Stannard is calling a temporary halt to recording under that name sad indeed, but he has assured me that he many other projects up his sleeve, which is very good news!

'Through Dark Polished Glass' is available a as standard CD and as a super-duper Deluxe Edition which comes with a manner of goodies. Hurry though, they are going fast. They can be found, along with the digital version, on The Rowan Amber Mill Bandcamp page.



Links:

The Rowan Amber Mill Bandcamp Page

The Rowan Amber Mill Facebook page

The Rowan Amber Mill Twitter