Quite good record of dark folk songs with a vaguely Goth flavour from Chimehours on their album Underneath The Earth (COLD SPRING CSR355CD).
This is the UK duo of Jon Dix with Beck Goldsmith, who appear to be making their debut under this name, although they arrive here from a background in film and TV music. Very professionally produced with a rich full sound, made with multiple layers of guitars (guitars which really chime and it takes them hours to do the overdubs – hence the band’s name), ominous drumming, and plenty of sinister drones, while the singing voice of Goldsmith is wistful and fragile, exhibiting the right balance of scared little-girl-lost and a possessed soul wandering in the dark forest. Come to that she can also play the part of the fiendish witch who is luring her in.
I like the concision of these short songs, which never outstay their welcome, and the pared-down arrangements are simple and effective; may not quite be a successor to Love, Death and The Lady by Shirley and Dolly Collins, but the duo manage to capture a timeless feeling. The press blurb pushes a lot of buttons in attempting to locate the ready-made audience for this item, invoking The Wicker Man movie, 70s horror cinema, “folk horror”, and the inevitable term “hauntological”. For their part, it seems Chimehours were simply attempting to express their appreciation for a modern novel called Lanny by Max Porter; I never read it, but it seems to soft-pedal the horror elements in favour of folklore and myth in an English village setting.
Chimehours remind me a little of Hanging Freud, the Brazilian duo who also do chilling songs with acoustic guitars with a supernatural subtext. The Brazilians are far more elliptical, but this English duo offer a more “cinematic” production as they weave their curses and dig in the garden for poisonous roots. (11/11/2025)