Dolly Mavies - The Calm & The Storm (2024)

Contemporary British Folk That Takes You On An Emotional Roller Coaster of Epic Proportions. For once this is an English Folk (Rock) band who aren’t trying to ride the coat tails of the Americana bandwagon; and that’s part;y why I’ve been so attracted.
The album opens with something of an oddity; a preamble of sorts; the two minute The Calm are something of a ‘scene setter’ that errs on the complex side of being an instrumental, albeit with a female voice at the forefront not uttering actual words but ‘da dum da dums,’ and it’s a helluva lot better than I’ve just described it!
This is followed by the first song proper; I’m All Sugar a tightly wired and deeply emotional tale that will draw you in like a siren on the rocks, where the harmonies and an intensely gratifying backing track smother you like a Spring fog.

While most certainly a Folk album at heart, the songs here are all very contemporary in construction, swaying between Lo-Fi and Folk Rock at times; and the way the songs and stories take you on an emotional roller coaster of epic proportions. Forgive and Forget is a prime example; as Molly and Ruth combine to take a fascinating tale into Rock Ballad territory while the band sound like they are desperate to hold it together and not to burst at the seams.

In many ways THE CALM & THE STORM is a breakthrough album as well as a debut album (technically their first studio album) and it’s only going to take the tiniest bit of luck to find the beautiful Reflection and Silhouette or especially the extraordinary four minutes of Wait For Me to find their way onto a BBC Radio 6 playlist or similar and the game will change in an extraordinary manner for the band.