Nottingham is well renowned for its folk tales of the legendary Robin Hood, but if you are to find some new(ish) tales to discover, you would be best looking amongst its present day music scene.
CADENCE NOIR are a Gothic Folk N’ Roll band that play foot stomping folk rock infused with elements of blues, metal and punk. They clearly have lots of fun whilst doing it.
Weighing Owls instantly makes you want to laugh “the traffics hell and work is worse, the f*ck I do to earn this curse, not likes there’s weight within my purse, so I’ll go back to sleep” it is something most of us can relate to.
Hammered And Sickened sounds like the lovechild of KORPIKLAANI and a Cornish bootlegger. It has all the booze fuelled elements that makes you want to swing a tankard slopping ale or cider all over your comrades in arms whilst singing along in full. This is the stand out track from the album for me.
A Reckless Endeavour opens up the polka pit! This is a great track for you to have a good jig and dance to. If that is not your thing, there is also the opportunity for some headbanging towards the latter part of the song. A nice fusion of folk, punk and metal.
Down The Park has a much slower pace to that of the previous tracks on this release. It allows the band to be a bit more mellow and this is a sombre tale of reflection of past innocence “so tell me why must we hate, tell me why can’t we play like we used to when we’re all, all in the park.” Before stating that you must live your own life and not to follow any trends but to just respect everyone else to live theirs: “my life’s not your life and his life’s not her life but all of our lives intertwine”
My Place is a re-recorded version of the bands 2014 single. It is simply carving out a little place of your own. It is quite anthemic “this is my place, this is where I live” and nursery-rhyme styled with how the lyrics are delivered with use of onomatopoeia “crash, bang, wallop as the nasty wolf blows” However one cannot take it with you when you pass “places that we have mean nothing in the end”
Dave’s Turnip Tart is primarily just one massive drum solo. From seeing the initial song title, I expected some utter nonsense lyrically but for a band to feature a drum solo as the last track of the album is absolute silliness. This gave me a good chuckle trying to visualise the rest of the band embracing some culinary excellence whilst drummer David Budge just gets on with his thing of battering the kitchen pans.
Bonus track Hey Yeah finishes off the aforementioned drum solo and is a catchy and joyful melody from the start.
For a band that have been around for the best part for a decade now, A Reckless Endeavour (the EP is a mix of old and “new” songs) is still fresh on the ears and a lot of fun. There is something here for everyone to enjoy and well worth a listen.
Rating: 8/10
Words: Martin White
A Reckless Endeavour is due out this Friday.
Find CADENCE NOIR on Facebook.
