Smoke Fairies
Album: Blood Speaks
Label: V2
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.smokefairies.com/

I have a confession to make. This review is not altogether objective.The reason for this is that I was already a big fan of Smoke Fairies long before I was asked to review this, their second album. I had already bought their singles Gastown, Living With Ghosts and Sunshine, their EP Frozen Heart and their first full album Through Low Light and Trees. And I love them all. And now I love this one too, having listened to it repeatedly.

As with their previous recordings, it's absolutely gorgeous, but different.

Firstly, a brief resume of the 'Fairies' career. They [ Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies] met at school in Sussex. They spent a year in New Orleans where they soaked up the music of the Big Easy, particularly the blues. On returning home, they also discovered British folk music. They have some big names as supporters. Their single Gastown was the first release by a British act on Jack White's Third Man label. Richard Hawley [with whom they have toured] described them as " the best thing I've heard in years".

The first album Through Low Light and Trees was released in 2010 and now we have their second album Blood Speaks. It is fair to say that the new album is a progression from its predecessor. It has a heavier sound, particularly in the guitar department. It also incorporates elements of blues rock, psychedelia and even pop. It also has more of of a "band" feel to it, no doubt as a result of touring, particularly in the US.

The album has a cohesive continuity to it, and it is best listened to at one sitting, preferably late at night with a large glass of good red wine.

As ever, the vocals are immaculate but they are now part of a more muscular, rocky sound than previously.

Whilst it is best listened to from start to finish, if I had to pick out any particular tracks, I would choose The Three of Us, which shows off the new, heavier sound ; Take Me Down When You Go [which sounds like some long-lost psych-folk masterpiece from 1969] and Feel It Coming Near, which has an eerie, haunting atmosphere, which sends a chill down the spine.

The more poppy side of the band is shown on Radio Clicks On, which is a little more commercial than most of the album but none the worse for that.

Overall, it is another stunning album from Smoke Fairies, that, like the band itself, just gets better and better.

Peter Cowley