Alpha Mule offer up a sublimely organic take on folk and roots music that is simply beautiful to witness. Their acoustic approach to performance and their poetic approach to songwriting both work well to set the bar high, on top of this you get these delicately captivating melodies and harmonies that come through with a contrasting quickness, leaving you peacefully lost in the echo of their depth.
Corpus Christi is a song drenched in emotion and reflection. The structure of the performance showcases an intense move from the gentle to the fast paced. There’s an unexpected meeting of the organically raw and the somewhat electronic, these haunting synths appear in the distance, the voices come through soaked in reverb, and all the while the rhythm and evolution of the piece holds tight to your attention.
As a first time listener to the band, I’m reminded in small doses of the likes of Seth Lakeman or Mumford and Sons. However, it’s merely the quickness of the instrumental performances and the poetic nature of the lyrics that bring about such a modern or non-traditional folk vibe. There’s an element of acoustic rock to their sound, or more than an element in fact – the sound gets huge, and the experience gets better and better as things progress – the potential for a live show seems an unmissable prospect.
It’s a pleasure to stumble upon this band as there’s something about their music that is unfamiliar and intriguing, some of the ideas take a while to draw in; the pace of the music leaves you wondering what just happened. On the contrary, there’s also something comfortingly nostalgic about it, for me at-least. Both instances fuse well in making their sound something fresh and unquestionably beautiful to listen to.
Stream the music on Spotify or download via Bandcamp. Visit the Alpha Mule Website for more information.
