Zoe Wren - Gold and Smoke

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 10 / 5 / 2018

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Folk music didn’t fade away in the late 1970s but it lost some of its following for a while there. It seemed that during that period there werenot so many girls with an acoustic who were interpreting and keeping the old traditional folk songs alive. Thankfully folk music took the first of many strange turns shortly afterwards and a kind of renaissance followed. The last few years especially has seen the emergence of an increasing number of female singer-songwriters who have not only added new life to old traditional folk songs but also captured the spirit of those songs and, even more importantly, shown that they can write their own material which, at times, even eclipses those songs that formed part of our youth. There is an almost endless list of young singer-songwriters who have been inspired by folk music and, as time moves on, added their own identity to the genre; by keeping the music fresh they inspire new generations to check out the original innovators. It is a win-win situation. The problem is that with so many new artists arriving on the scene it’s getting more difficult to make a mark, to carve out their own niche. Folkstock Records have played an important part in keeping folk music alive and seem to have a knack for finding exceptional new talent. The label’s latest release is from Zoe Wren. It’s not Zoe’s debut recording venture but the ‘Gold & Smoke’ EP is the first of Zoe’s work that has reached these ears. It all looked good on paper; Zoe was the youngest performer to play the main stage at Folkstock Festival when she was just sixteen and she is the recipient of the 2017 PRS Lynsey De Paul prize for emerging female singer-songwriters. Zoe’s already had plays on the Bob Harris radio show and she has attracted press coverage in the right places. So, Zoe Wren should be good then, right? The fact is she’s so much more than good, and without a doubt one of the top three singer-songwriters that can loosely be labeled ‘folk’ who is making music right now. That description, ‘singer-songwriter’ doesn’t really do Zoe justice. Once this writer had listened to the six songs on ‘Gold & Smoke’ I did the usual thing and checked to see if there were any live clips of Zoe performing out there in cyber-space. One of the first things that came up was a performance of Zoe singing Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’. Not really a song that should be tampered with anyway. But Zoe nailed it totally, mainly due to her voice. That voice. It’s a powerful instrument for such a young, slight person; shorn of any kind of vocal aerobatics it’s pure, believable and a thing of beauty. Watching Zoe perform, even through a screen, somehow that voice was even more affecting than it is on ‘Gold & Smoke’. Then there’s the songwriting part. Of the six songs on her latest EP five are originals that were inspired by traditional folk songs, and one is ‘Lady Mary’ a traditional song probably best known by the Joan Baez version. But try and find the joins; if we were told that all six songs were traditional and that Zoe had just added her own vision to the songs we would have accepted it for her songwriting is first class. Rarely has the description of singer-songwriter been so fitting. It doesn’t stop there either. Zoe is an artist who doesn’t just write lyrics; she turns short stories into songs, just like the originators did. Zoe has openly admitted that the inspiration for these songs came from traditional folk songs, and that she has added her own twist to the stories. It’s so refreshing to hear that a young musician is proudly admitting to their influences. and has the confidence (not arrogance) to inject just a little of their own vision into the sound that has so influenced them to make the songs relevant today and sounding so fresh and vibrant. There are those old enough to remember when this type of music was at its most popular and we’ve been searching for the real thing coming through a new artist for years. There have been many who have made an excellent job of keeping the folk flag flying high and introducing the genre to a new audience. but it didn’t take much persuasion once Zoe’s voice and songs were heard to accept that this young lady is very near, if not at the top, of the list. There are detailed descriptions of what the songs on ‘Gold & Smoke’ are about elsewhere, suffice to say that if your heart beats to the sound of folk music then just know you can now give up that search and lose yourself in a musician who is not only mature beyond her years lyrically but who understands the genre totally. Lauren Deakin Davies who also plays bass, mandolin and violin on the songs produces the EP. The only other musician other than Lauren and Zoe (who plays guitar and piano) is Bodhran player Zak Lakota-Baldwin. Despite just a handful of musicians and instruments Lauren’s production is warm and inviting, never busy and always accentuating the beauty in Zoe’s voice. It’s like hearing Joan Baez again for the first time. Can what is being promoted as an EP top the best of 2018 end of year folk album lists? I’ve a feeling I won’t be alone on this one; it’s a simply stunning piece of work from an artist who has so much to offer. Zoe Wren is a gifted songwriter; that she is also adept at setting her stories to compelling melodies is only part of her appeal, Zoe has a voice that is impossible to ignore. ‘Gold & Smoke’ is pure class and Zoe Wren is without a doubt set for a long musical journey.

Track Listing:-

1 Gold and Smoke
2 If I Had A Voice
3 Lady Mary
4 She's A Highwayman
5 This Old Hat
6 Silkie Lullaby

Band Links:-

https://en-gb.facebook.com/zoewrenmusic/
http://www.zoewren.com
https://twitter.com/zoewrenmusic
https://www.instagram.com/zoewrenmusic/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-JgEqNqiaCYi7bH7h6LSHQ

Label Links:-

http://www.folkstockartsfoundation.com/folkstock-records/
https://twitter.com/Folkstock
https://www.youtube.com/user/Folkstock
https://plus.google.com/108149776288525712118
https://www.facebook.com/folkstockrecords
http://www.folkstockrecords.com/

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