(2021) Doran - Doran


Review:
Doran’s self-titled debut exists in an indeterminant time and space, clearly grounded in the starkest sort of old time folk singing and string band music but coming at it from right now, so that it sounds both ancient and fresh. It may come as a surprise that only one of this album’s 13 songs is a traditional folk tune, but then again, it may not. These songs vibrate like tuning forks, picking up signals from the past, the future and some wholly imagined mythical eras. Doran’s four members have come from various open-minded folk outfits. Elizabeth LaPrelle hails from the experimental folk duo Ann & Elizabeth, while Channing Showalter and Annie Schermer played acid folk fiddles in West of Roan. Brian Dolphin, the folklorist and songwriter who produced the album, has made some solo music and at least one duet video with LaPrelle. “Old Moon,” the second track, wrestles a bit with the tension between homage and reinterpretation. Its spare, stirring melody is sung in close, minor-key harmonies, with no instrumental accompaniment. At least three and maybe all four of them weave counterparts, joining up at the end of phrases in the chords that hang like firewood smoke. Yet the song seems to be about the difficulty of inhabiting old music. There is rust on their tongues and ash on their lips as the artists sing this song. They are swimming in a river that leaves their hands “stone and dry.” And yet, though authenticity recedes as you pursue it, Doran finds a shadowy, parallel universe sort of truth in the songs. Many of the cuts are a capella, showcasing (if that’s the right word for such subtle art) the artists’ prayerful, meditative vocal melding. Others foreground traditional instruments — fiddle, guitar and mountain dulcimer—as they unfurl the same dusky melodies. “Arbegen” switches seamlessly from Morris dance-like stringed instrument medley to a wild, free-wheeling burst of vocal play. There’s a mythology undergirding several of the songs, with deer people and moons and other archetypes making appearances and at least one song that refers to a children’s fantasy novel. The point is that these songs refer to a past, and if it’s not quite our past, that doesn’t make it any less fascinating to explore. — dusted





Track Listing:
1. Deer People (01:37)
2. Old Moon (02:18 )
3. Arbegen (02:20)
4. Our Captain Cried All Hands (03:30)
5. And We Are Going (06:17)
6. Down the Road (03:34)
7. Solstice (03:07)
8. The Shadow Walks Behind You (03:15)
9. Bread and Water (02:21)
10. Bonefolder (05:36)
11. Boy/Moon (03:50)
12. Day into Night (04:50)
13. Deer People Reprise (03:16)


Media Report:
Genre: acoustic, folk
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits