Derby Hill and Electric Horseman Reviewed
Derby Hill – In a Matter of Moments
You can’t know why for sure, but you imagine that if there’s still something sacred left in this world, it’s going to require some long silences before it can properly reveal itself. You get the feeling that all of these things making noise and vying for your attention have very little in common with whatever is holy.
Since the vast majority of modern music is content with being nothing else than entertainment, you can excuse it for being so flashy. It needs to get sold before it goes bad, after all. The singers and songwriters are the salespeople, and within the space of a few minutes, they’ll light torches and make all kinds of promises. But can you ever really believe them?
Derby Hill is an indie-folk group searching for whatever’s left of the holiest things and doing it in between silences. “In a Matter of Moments” doesn’t use any fancy tricks meant to trick your attention. Instead, the songwriting focuses on beautiful, half-whispered melodies, and the production embraces lo-fi dynamics as if all you can do now is dig deep and uncover whatever secrets are yet to be found.
Electric Horseman – Colliding Moons
Nothing that was ever good ever, truly, goes out of fashion. How can it when it originates from something vital, something that speaks of the human condition? Things just disappear for a moment and are replaced by trends, before being adopted by loving audiences once more.
Sure, North American-inspired music had its time in the Sun. People equipped with thick beards, acoustic guitars and the ability to sing in harmony with their bandmates used to fill out arenas. And these bands, while not in vogue right now, always seem to be back on top every five to ten years.
Maybe it’s because audiences simply need bands like Electric Horseman. Perhaps there’s just something about people warmly singing over acoustic guitars, telling campfire stories about courage and faith in better days that hits a spot in the listener’s soul. “Colliding Moons” is built on the kind of folk sound that will never be out of fashion entirely.
