Music Review: Wilful Missing Scarborough Fair

I LOVE Wilful Missing. I mean really love them. I have their CDs, TShirts ect. So I was very excited to see this was available. It is 4 tracks, with a cover of "Scarborough fair" and 3 B-sides. Another bonus is that download is available via a Pay what it is worth scheme. This is fantastic if you are just wanting a taste of the album or the band. I would however, always recommend paying more, this is a lot of work and recording costs gone into it, so give at least a few quid! Wilful missing are not a huge band who can afford to not have day jobs and just live of their music!

So track 1is their cover of "Scarborough fair". Many covers of this exist (Simon and Garfunkel being the most well know I would guess) This is a beautiful folk song which is about a man giving a series of impossible tasks to a lady, and if she achieves this he will take her back as his partner. Such tasks include making a shirt with no seams and washing it in a dry well. It is beautiful in many versions, but this one is outstanding. It has such a hauntingly beautiful sound and Sam, the singer has such a nice tone to his voice it just makes me want to listen to it again and again. This song will feature in a film called "I know what I'm doing" The video is below which includes clips from the film.

Track 2 is an acoustic version of their song called "Powerful Pill"This song was featured on their album "Molehills out of Mountains", which is an album that gets blasted in my car weekly, at minimum! This was recorded live at St Bartholomew's Church. This songs AMAING. Must have great acoustics in the church as it has a great sound. You know a band is good when they sound better in a live version than on an album. The album version is good but this just has a great sound.

Track 3 is called "Blue poetry". This was supposed to go onto the "Molehills out of Mountains" album but didn't make the cut. So this is the first "New" song on this. The intro makes it sound like it will be a totally different type of song. I was wondering in the first 30 seconds if this would be in the typical Wilful missing style, but after that it kicks into being beautiful, just the way I expect. One of the things I love about Wilful Missing is that each song they do sounds so different but so similar. I am not sure how to explain it, but it is distinctly them but also sounds different. I really like it, if this is a taste of the album they are currently writing then I am impatiently waiting for it!

Track 4 is called "Thirteen". It is a cover of the song by "Big Star" It is a song which I have heard before but didn't realise that I had, so it was nice to be able to sing along. I find the original a little nasally in singing which does grate on me a little. It is a epic song however. This did cause me to worry as it was voted #406 out of Rolling Stones 500 greatest song list, how can a small UK band live up to that. I have to say they did fantastically. It is strange to hear it being sung in such a distinctly British accent but within 30 seconds you had forgotten that and I was just enjoying it. The harmonies are beautiful and I will be listening to this song again and again. 

So overall this is a fantastic 4 tracks. My one complaint is that it is only 4 tracks and not a full album!!

Please check out "Scarborough Fair" at http://music.wilfulmissing.co.uk/album/scarborough-fair

Check out Wilful Missing at their website http://wilfulmissing.co.uk

or facebook https://www.facebook.com/wilfulmissing

Brains out of 5: