Self-described “Beardy-indie-folk-popster from the woods”, Serious Child is the alter ego of Alan Young, a musician who does indeed reside in the heart of the forest, surfacing occasionally to brighten the world with his unique take on folk. Whilst his musical roots dig deep in folk’s fertile soil, there’s also a forward facing nature to his songs, a desire not to be shackled (too tightly) to the past, and that’s exactly the ethos latest long player, What Lies Beneath, brings to the table. Featuring a dozen diverse tracks, this is an album with crossover appeal that will find favour from countryside to city and farm to flyover.
Revolution doesn’t have to be violent and bloodthirsty, it can also be subtle and initiate a more gentle change and that’s certainly the case with What Lies Beneath and its opening track ‘Underland’. Understated, yet haunting and arresting, it’s the kind of track that’ll make you prick up your ears and stop any activity you’re undertaking. Like a trail of breadcrumbs leading to a haunted cottage or a gateway to a netherworld, it is impossible to resist ‘Underland’s magnetic pull and once ensconced within the world of What Lies Beneath there you’ll remain. Alan’s vocals have more than a whiff of authority, the air of a natural born storyteller, and it is this (along with the warm production) that stitches a diverse album together as we travel from the dark and claustrophobic ‘Underland’ to the bright open vista of ‘Sunny Day’.
Rather than being a musical time capsule stuck in some mythical age, folk was always a vehicle for telling stories, communicating and commentating on contemporary issues and that’s exactly what this long player does. Full of wry observations on the kind of first world problems the cause the Western malaise (‘First Tattoo’, ‘Cancel Me’), these songs are delivered with delicious melodies that wrap the listener in a warm Novocaine buzz. For example, the day-to-day drudgery of the working week is something most will recognise in ‘Dusk On The 33’, yet it takes a musician like Serious Child to really notice and highlight the miniscule details. With a neat turn of phrase (such as “Somewhere there’s a rabbit without its foot” on ‘Charming’), the songs comprising this album become living and breathing entities and the characters who inhabit them three-dimensional.
Another stark and sparse track in ‘Book Ends’ closes the album and brings things nicely full circle, making this the kind of record you can quite easily consume in one sitting to fully appreciate its ebb and flow and highs and lows. Serious Child is an artist who has attained a cult status, but What Lies Beneath is an album that’ll bring him to the spotlight glare.
- What Lies Beneath is available now (from here).
- Official Website
Track List:
- Underland
- Stunt Double
- First Tattoo
- Sunny Day
- Cancel Me
- Underland (Reprise)
- Dusk On The 33
- Veneer
- Serious Child
- Charming
- Remnant
- Book Ends
