Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The Appalachian Mountains hold a kind of mystery, a force of enigma that is not found anywhere else within the continuous states of America, the folklore and superstitions, the sense that there is something unworldly that gives the area its chilling respect and leaves the unwary visitor clutching at anything they hold dear as if it will offer protection, offer a guard against the legends and the creatures of myth and illusion.
Whilst imbedded an entire continent away, the roots of story-telling of Wild Mountain Mystics offers an insight into the often-missed beauty that some eagerly explore with anticipation and an open soul, and in the pairing’s debut album, Fire & Honey, the partnership between Rick and Lisa, (in keeping with the aura of the virtue of Woodstock and the hippy creativity of having no surnames in which to attach box ticking or generalising) is wonderfully emotionally complex and filled with entrancing authentic persuasion.
An album of original songs and one exceptionally conceived cover, the tantalising arrangement that comes with reading in a distinctive way the lessons offered in The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love, is the result of the pair’s union with the L.A. Americana-roots label Blackbird Records, and in its delivery the delight of the listener will be unbound, will be devilishly uncontrollable, as the sincerity of uniqueness, of embracing the multi-instrumentalists view point of Appalachian mythos and Woodstock groove.
It is a joining of two worlds which works magically, two very different approaches to life, the west coast buzz and a place of innovation and its own strange voyage of self-discovery, and that of the old world, of initial exploration and the darkness that hides itself in deep forests, only surfacing to add further tales to the mystery and lore, and as tracks such as If You Can Bluff, Love Takes Over The Night, What Our Love Can Do, Love Is The Law, and the connection of memory and hope in May We All Meet Again are taken to heart, so the relative truth of Wild Mountain Mystics’ debut reveals itself.
An album of high intense appeal, a lore of its own making, and one that is considerable and entertaining.
Ian D. Hall