#TEAMw21's favourite Australian sisters are back with a new single "Clean Cut" which is trailblazing the way for their new album "Marlinchen In The Snow" which will be coming out April 19th. If you've somehow managed to resist their allure despite all of our recommendations then perhaps now is the time to give in as this single is unstoppable.
It opens to a powerful piece of percussion which will be ever present throughout, an acoustic guitar and sisters Ivy & Mabel Windred-Wornes providing atmospheric, scene setting backing vocals - if you think of Big Love style Fleetwood Mac merging with Kate Bush then that is the vibe that emerges from those early moments. Charm Of Finches songs are always filled with drama of some sort and this one immediately places you in the centre of a maelstrom,
""I left that city on the morning flight
And right then you decided I wasn’t in your life
Any longer, like you’d be stronger"
The chorus adds strings to the mix and the electric guitar that had previously been providing little flourishes becomes more prominent. The strings are no simple adornment they join the percussion to form a rhythmic tsunami, that is stopping for no-one, however it is the mesmerising enigmatic vocals that steal show, melodic yet with an steely iciness about them.
"I’ll finally wake up
Making my mind up
Making a clean cut
Strangers we’ve made now
The chains we have laid down
Making a clean cut"
The second verse continues that theme of travel from the opening verse and relocates us to a memory in Japan.
"Here it’s summer with a winter view
Is your mind as blue or some prettier hue
Like the red leaves burning
Kyoto in the evening, your arms held my breathing
The calm returning when the deep blue met my eyes
Under the simple sky, above my quiet mind"
It is everything that you would want from a Charm Of Finches single and more, the backing vocals flitting from speaker to speaker, are a sheer delight and on the chorus there is a sense of elegance about the way that the words tumble out. It is a marvellous statement of intent that makes the album even more eagerly anticipated.
Clean Cut Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HZoj-cEaz8