Oxford band Stornoway have dismissed the ‘folk’ tag so often associated with their plaintive acoustic strumming.
Over the past few years the music industry has been dominated by technology, with gimmicks such as Autotune becoming hot talking points. Perhaps as a result a new generation of acts are taking inspiration from folk music.
In Britain, the likes of Laura Marling, Mumford And Sons, Johnny Flynn and more have emerged with a distinct new sound. Hailing from Oxford, Stornoway could well be the latest in this lineage – it’s just that the band don’t agree.
Speaking to BBC 6Music keyboard player Jon Ouin rejected any folk influence. “From where we come from Brian writes songs and just happens to use an acoustic guitar and it doesn’t really have much baring to folk for us.”
“We don’t think of it as folk music particularly, it has the stylistic shell of folk” the keyboard player continued.
“I don’t see that much common links really other than the acoustic guitar with Mumford and Sons or Laura Marling or Noah and the Whale because some of them use much more oblique lyrics and Brian’s songs tend to be very direct and personal”.
Launched with three tiny shows at an Oxford pub, debut album ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’ mixes simply acoustic songwriting with some effortless harmonies. Often compared to Fleet Foxes, Stornoway’s Jon Ouin told BBC 6Music that he thinks every band faces being placed in a genre.
“It just happens to have some things in common with other bands who are popular right now but i know every band probably says that they don’t like to be boxed into a genre.”
Stornoway’s debut album ‘Beachcomber’s Windowsill’.
