Admiral Fallow

Admiral Fallow are, quite probably, a new-to-you band – albeit one landing in your in-tray or inbox today with a debut album already under their collective belt, 2010’s superbly acclaimed Boots Met My Face. As such an achievement should suggest, this Glasgow-based ensemble has paid its dues several times over, sleeping on floors on tour and making the most of meagre resources to further a cause that’s earned them comparisons to the likes of The Delgados and Midlake and attracted plaudits from such high-profile individuals as Elbow’s Guy Garvey, King Creosote and Guillemots’ Fyfe Dangerfield.

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Now, with the release of Tree Bursts in Snow – produced and mixed at Glasgow's famous Chem 19 studios by Paul Savage (Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub), and mastered by Greg Calbi (Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, The National) at Sterling Sound in NYC – the five-piece (regularly swelled to a larger collective live) is ready to take the next step: from the recommended column of several critics’ reviews catalogue and into the hearts of the wider public. “I think of an album in the same way I do a live show,” says Abbott, whose solo endeavours developed into Admiral Fallow in 2007; “it needs to have a strong balance between catchy numbers and the slow-burners.” And so Tree Bursts in Snow matches its upbeat offerings with quieter arrangements, presenting a mix of immediate delights and songs that might take a few listens to take hold of the soul. (But worry not, as they will.)

It might seem natural to place Admiral Fallow beside certain purveyors of what’s become bracketed as nu-folk, but the outfit is as much a new chapter in the continuing history of remarkable independent voices from north of the border as it is aligning itself with topical trends. “Members of the band have experience in traditional, electronic, orchestral and Indie music,” says Abbott, “and I didn’t have an electric guitar when we began playing together.” So: the end product is of an entirely organic design, and certainly not to be confused with coattail-riding revisionists. Filtering imagery of war through perspectives that prefer the positive over wallowing in pity, Admiral Fallow have, with Tree Bursts in Snow, realised their most compelling statement of intent to date. A bright, breezy listen on ‘Guest of the Government’ (squint and it could be The National with a burr), affectingly intimate on ‘Brother’ (perhaps the most personal lyric herein), it’s a set that conveys a raft of emotions with accomplished poise – with the sort of experience that can only come from hard graft.