When people talk about the golden age of music, so often the 60s seem to pop up as an iconic decade that defined culture and liberated from the masses. It’s without a doubt a significant age for music which shaped people’s consciousness, made people think objectively about society, creating a generation of hippies and anti-war movements that would inspire a whole spectrum of musicians that transformed the origins of rock n roll, with a Techni-colour palette, whilst revisiting its stripped down, neo-Jazz, country, baroque-pop, psychedelic-folk, blues and rhythmic blues roots.
So, when you come across a band such as Starry Skies, whose music reflects the youthful idealism and humane ideology of the 1960s providing an antidote for the doom and gloom, then it’s like a taking a trip down the memory lane of all things revolutionary, authentic and unifying. With Warren McIntyre (Vocals/Guitar), Heather Phillips (Violin/Vocals), Jen Lunan – (Vocals/ Cello), Adam Scott (Bass), Johnny Rooney (Guitar) and Sophie Pragnell (Viola/Vocals/Percussion), Starry Skies are a band that sends you a personal invite to their music and appreciate every gamut of their folk infused music. Transcending from the mystical muses of Syd Barrett, Love, Kaleidoscope, Starry Skies wanders through the folk fog of Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and Donovan, whilst lifted by the ghostly gospel-esque harmonies, and the country-twinged reverberation likened to Johnny Cash and John Martyn.
Along with the fanfare of mariachi marvels of neo-psyc-folk, and Beatle-esque arrangements, Warren McIntyre, as the ambassador of the band, is very much a time-travelling troubadour. He’s an artist that soaks up the weather beaten cycles of life and, wraps them up in a warm, cosy blanket whilst staring wistfully at the stars. He’s a captivating live performer, whose pensive and heart-warming lyrics levitate from the clouds and reflects from its melancholic moon.
With a catalogue of albums and EPs dating from 2012, Starry Skies have released their latest album, “Do It With Love”, on 14th November 2020, which has been selected as my album of the month. Perfectly mastered and immaculately crafted, “Do It With Love” is a stunning album, which sees Starry Skies continue their musical journey with a series of jangly, folk-neo-blues, Baroque-pop infused songs that sooth the soul and warm the heart.
Through the reverberating riffs, orchestral sweeps and intertwined tinkles, “Do It With Love” is an album that drifts you away to the deepest depths of human conditions and allows you to soak up every iota of emotion. It’s an intimate affair, which is sugar-coated with love, sweet yearnings and spiritual fulfilment.
Staying true to its folk roots, “Do It With Love” is like an ancestor from the Romantic Movement. An album which brings together the emotional sensitivity and individual subjectively of the modern man in an age of uncertainty. It’s emotionally driven, illuminated from the remnants of the Enlightenment era, shinning bright amongst nature, allegorical concepts, and captivates its audience through its vivid imagery and poetic musings.
It’s through the stripped down acoustics and spacious interludes that “Do It With Love” lays bare the raw sentiments of the album, allowing the profound lyrics to seep through. As a front man, Warren is a class act, the archetypal alternative folk-artist, with many strings to his bow. An accomplished musician and singer-songwriter, Warren goes back to the basics of Roots music and adds a bit of magic along the way. He’s a day dream believer, gazing towards the celestial heights, in some far away place, with his feet firmly on the ground.
Unlike many slap dash artists of the synthetic age of music, Warren is a true artist in the traditional sense, a master of his craft and a caretaker of his work. His voice, as a standalone instrument, effortlessly conveys an array of emotions that reaches out on both a personal and universal level. Along with the ethereal female harmonies, “Do It With Love” is lifted above to spiritual realms, purifying its beauty, like an aloof angelic entity.
Thematically about love and relationships, “Do It With Love” is classically crafted, tinkering in the shadows of blue-folk, whilst tip-toeing into the realms of neo-psycheldic, glam-rock and dream-pop. It’s a beautiful album, whose reverberating riffs are an intermix of 60s nostalgia and more contemporary acts such as Mazzy Starr and Kurt Vile. Along with the nimble-fingered riffs, staccato smudges and country curls, “Do It With Love” creates a warm fuzzy ambience, a campfire collective that glows from eternal embers of love, peace and harmony.
“Do It With Love” can be purchased via Home | Foxstarrecords and is available on vinyl and all digital formats.
First track on “Do It With Love” and current single, “I Want You To Know”, has now featured on over 80 radio stations/shows worldwide.