Confessed Anglophile
Colin Meloy's affinity for U.K. folk music finally comes full circle on
The Queen of Hearts, a meticulously crafted collaboration between
the Decemberists and English folk artist
Olivia Chaney. Comprising strictly traditional fare, the songs that make up
Offa Rex's debut will be familiar to fans of the style, as many of their definitive versions have arrived via genre heavyweights like
Anne Briggs,
Martin Carthy,
Shirley Collins,
Ewan MacColl,
Fairport Convention, and
Steeleye Span. The latter two acts figure most prominently on the 11-track set, with the supremely talented
Chaney channeling
Sandy Denny and
Maddy Prior, delivering pitch-perfect takes on seasoned tales both bucolic and brooding.
Meloy and company also adopt the
Span/
Convention template, fleshing things out with spindly electric guitars, fiddle, and lumbering drums -- the group's take on "Blackleg Miner" hews so closely to the 1970
Steeleye version that it almost verges on karaoke. The secret weapon here is
Chaney, whose excellent 2015 debut,
Longest River, rightly evoked comparisons to
Joni Mitchell and
June Tabor. Her command impresses throughout, especially on some of the more pastoral numbers like "Old Churchyard," "Willie o' Winsbury," and the knotty
Dreamboat Annie-era
Heart-inspired title cut, and her presence helps to even out some of the album's more distended offerings, like the doomy psych-rock outlier "Sheepcrook and Black Dog." All nitpicking aside,
Queen of Hearts is as committed a piece of retro-leaning English folk-rock as one could hope for -- there's even some Morris dance music.
Meloy and
Chaney's genuine love for the source material is apparent throughout, and while it may not bring anything too new to the table, it still makes for a delicious spread. [
Queen of Hearts was also released in a vinyl LP edition.] ~ James Christopher Monger