The Nightjar – Wardrobe

There’s a compelling haunted atmosphere about this single from the Bristol band which suggests folk music brought out of its comfort zone and into touch with the devotional wing of classical music and the ambient avant garde.

The arrangement is sparse to put it mildly – barely there guitar plucks, a hushed gong here and there, a low bass hum. But then the most startling vocal harmonies, recorded very close, crowd around turning a diverting melody into a chilling existential experience.

The press release makes mention of “songs for the end of time” and there is an apocalyptic sense to the lyric – objects destroyed by fire, swallowed by the earth, watching them disappear.

Let’s just call it all round wonderful and leave it at that.