The Story is an English
psychedelic folk
Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...
duo comprising the former
Forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
member Martin Welham and his son Tom Welham. They write and record melodic songs that range from
psychedelic pop
Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is a genre of pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the mid-to-late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, ...
to
stream-of-consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which i ...
folk and play an array of predominantly acoustic instruments as a backdrop to their blend of vocal harmonies.
Biography
Martin Welham was part of the influential 1960s acid folk trio Forest. In the early 2000s, thirty years after Forest disbanded, he formed the
Somerset
Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
based band The Story with his son Tom and returned to recording music. Their sound has echoes of Martin's earlier work with authentic psychedelic songwriting at its core.
[
The band's first release was a 2005 vinyl split album, ''The Dawn Is Crowned'', with Californian ]freak folk
Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music.
...
band Whysp on Good Village Records. The Story's side has five broadly acoustic tracks that blend esoteric, dark imagery with powerful vocal harmonies resulting in an unattributable psychedelic air.
In 2006, the band released its first full-length album, ''Tale Spin'', on Sunbeam Records, the first contemporary artists released by the label. This psychedelic folk
Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelic music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of contemporary folk music, folk, but adds musical elements common ...
album features acoustic guitars, keyboards and light percussion combined with airy harmony vocals and wistful melodies.
A follow-up album, ''Arcane Rising'', was released in 2007. A stream of consciousness conceptual song cycle
A song cycle () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online''
The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...
, the album is made up of improvised melodies and acoustic guitar backings augmented by flutes, melody harp, harmonica and hand percussion. Lyrically, the album celebrates life and nature through the changing seasons while questioning religious doctrine
Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system. The etymolog ...
s and humankind's ecological
Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...
footprint. Also in 2007, The Story's sinister track "The Wicker Man" appeared on the dark folk compilation album ''John Barleycorn Reborn'' on Cold Spring Records
Cold Spring is an independent record label based in Northamptonshire, England, specialising in "all forms of extreme media, but particularly: dark ambient, neo-classical/neo-folk, orchestral, power electronics/noise, Japanese noise, minimal, ...
.
The band's acclaimed third full-length album, ''Joy Ride on Memory Lane'', was released in 2011 by Rainbow Quartz Records under the band name The Story UK. This confident, hook-laden psychedelic album has a rockier sound than previous releases while continuing to incorporate the duo's warm harmonies and highly melodic aesthetic. Cold Spring Records' 2011 dark folk compilation album, ''John Barleycorn Reborn: Rebirth'', included The Story's ritualistic celebration piece "All Hallow's Eve".
In 2018, the psychedelic folk rock release, ''The Dawn is Crowned with Opium Tears'', brought together the first ever digital release of the band's 2005 vinyl LP, with five esoteric, darkly oblique, progressive psychedelic rock songs.
Discography
Split album
''The Dawn Is Crowned''
Studio albums
''Tale Spin''
''Arcane Rising''
''Joy Ride on Memory Lane''
''The Dawn is Crowned with Opium Tears''
Reception
''The Dawn Is Crowned''
The Story's contribution to the split vinyl LP ''The Dawn Is Crowned'' was described by Doug Mosurak of ''Dusted'' as "panoptic in scope and fairly timeless, interjecting frills and fantasy elements into solid, warm musicianship",
''Tale Spin''
Jeff Penczak of ''Foxy Digitalis'' described ''Tale Spin'' as "a whistful collection of melodic folk pop full of gorgeous harmonies" while ''Psychedelic Folks Gerald Van Waes noted the "warm, delicate beautiful harmony vocals, simple guitars and percussion" making it "a beautiful album and another winner for true and truthful acid folk collectors".
''Joy Ride on Memory Lane''
''Joy Ride on Memory Lane'' received positive reviews. For ''PopMatters'', Stephen Haag described the album as "Utterly Charming" and noted that the duo "definitely have near-encyclopedic knowledge of the Britfolk/psych genre".
The TimeLarks
In 2011, Martin and Tom began performing as part of the folk trio The TimeLarks and appeared at the 2012 International Pop Overthrow
The International Pop Overthrow (often referred to as simply The IPO) is an American-originated music festival, devoted to power pop music and related genres.
The festival is dedicated to bring classic pop music to the public, and is run by CEO a ...
festival at the Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a music venue on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England.
The Cavern Club opened on 16 January 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The club becam ...
in Liverpool. In 2016, they released two progressive acoustic folk albums, ''Wheel of Stone'' and ''Grain of Light''.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Story, The
Psychedelic folk groups
Family musical groups
English folk rock groups