Castanets: City Of Refuge

Freak folk. Say it with me. Freak. Folk. It's a strange one isn't it?

Many have dubbed the likes of Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Sufjan Stevens as freak- or anti-folk but truthfully, they're not. Castanets is freak folk. A league of freaky folk that freaks the folk outta me.

Raymond Raposa aka Castanets was a prominent character in the freak-folk (hopefully the last time we say these words) movement back in 2004 and has since released four albums on the Asthmatic Kitty label (home to the aforementioned Sufjan Stevens). His newest effort is City Of Refuge, a haunting, beautiful record plagued with minor missteps along the way.

It seems that for every genuinely affecting moment on the album, there's a random electronic solo to accompany it. Some of the albums songs are actually just one or two minute blips and hisses. It's not that we don't like blips or hisses Mister Raposa but come on, three pointless tracks worth? Take five minutes of nonsense away from the already dwindling album duration and your left with just over half an hour of actual music.

When the music's actually playing though, City Of Refuge is rather brilliant. The Destroyer is a gentle, acoustic instrumental that leads into the wonderfully subtle Prettiest Chain. It immediately sets up a sparse landscape stretching for miles on end, a baron wasteland. This is probably the reason for the short bursts of aforementioned blips that sit between the music. They sound atmospheric but it's still a waste of space when your actual material is far more absorbing.

I'll Fly Away has hints of Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal and compliments the record wonderfully, however brief it is. That seems to be the recurring problem here, length. The real gems are the little one minute tracks that fly by almost unrecognised.

Savage is a definite highlight, and is the very meaning of freak-folk (last time, promise!). It's impending, looming and dark, sitting in the shadows, slowly creeping up behind you. "I dreamt I was the savage, so today I am the savage, today I am the savage". It sounds simplistic but that's what carries its soul.

It's hard not to be a little frustrated at this album if only for just how little material there is. Contradictory to that, it may just be that exact element that gives City Of Refuge its sparse, drifting character.