Oxlip

The beauty of ‘Wolves! Cried the Maid’, the new album by Oxlip, is that it’s impossible to pin down. It doesn’t neatly fall under any genre or banner. There is no neat pigeon-hole. That is precisely what, in essence, makes it an artistic masterpiece.

Oxlip is Jayne Trimble, a singer-songwriter originally from Coney Island in Northern Ireland, collaborating with a carefully selected group of Canadian musicians. The result is incredible.

Trimble’s songwriting skills are utterly unique. In a world of twenty-first-century clutter and clatter, her talent transcends the trivial and the mundane to gift the world the most enigmatic, curious songs that are steeped in the storytelling tradition of folk music.

Yet there’s a mystical, slightly psychedelic twist. There is a sense of drama. A sense of the unknown – the other world between light and dark to which we don’t belong. Trimble’s ethereal, angelic voice is capable of transporting the listener to some other realm.

The musicianship is exceptional. On this album, it’s as if the instruments are enchanted, like they are characters in the song, in particular, that haunting Hammond organ.

‘Wolves! Cried the Maid’ has a Celtic twilight, mystical vibe; a fairy tale quality, heavenly vocals yet despite that purity, something deeper lies beneath. Like all good fairy tales, there’s a darkness lurking.

It starts with rain. That comforting sound of a downpour. Then Jayne Trimble’s voice takes over and immediately you are taken to another place, a strange ‘Garden of Roses’. The opening track has an old-fashioned fairytale vibe. A narrative of dramatic twists and turns. Turbulent yet rhythmic, this beautiful but strange song ends with that sweet sound of rain. You could say, it turns full circle.

Continuing the mystical theme, ‘Two Lovely Swans’ brings to mind the ancient Irish myth of The Children of Lir, turned into swans by their wicked stepmother.

There are two lovely swans on a misty lake.

A melodic introduction leads to a memorable chorus. The swans represent the purity of divine love yet tied to this earth where to err is human. With its Celtic air, tin whistle and bodhran beat coupled with heavenly harmonies, we are left in no doubt as to what direction Oxlip is taking us; into another world where myths, legends and storytelling reigns. Into a Celtic dreamlike land of the Tuatha De Danann.

‘This Dark Hour’ is about escapism when the burden of reality becomes too much and there are no answers to the incessant questions. ‘Children of Zion’, an old spiritual song from the Rev Gary Davis is resurrected by Oxlip but not as you know it.

Demonstrating the power and vocal range of Jayne Trimble, it is transformed into an achingly beautiful lament, barely reminiscent of the original blues version, yet with all of the zeal, passion, and verve.

Skillfully following ‘Children of Zion’ comes ‘Dust’. It describes a post-apocalyptic scenario whereby America “from Oklahoma to the Texan plains” is covered in dust. Detailed and dramatic lyrics leave the listener in no doubt that this song is about the fall-out from an unthinkable disaster. It demonstrates the range of Trimble’s songwriting ability, from folklore and fairy tales to political commentary, which so potently and poetically leaves the listener in no doubt what it’s all about. The chorus drives the message home.

Dust to eat and dust to drink. Dust in your hair and dust in your teeth.

A stark reminder that dust we are and into dust, we return.

‘Lark in the Morning is an old Irish traditional air given a haunting introduction and dramatic treatment. It’s ‘Lark in the Morning’ like you’ve never heard it before just like ‘Children of Zion’ is given the unique Oxlip treatment.

‘Outshine the Devil’; tormented, tortured, and alone. Here, the Hammond organ takes on a life of its own. With a 60s psychedelic twist, it finishes with an unusual sound effect. It’s another example of how Oxlip’s composition is multi-layered and profound. This album requires repeated and mindful attention if you really want to get it.

‘Prophet From St. Paul’ provides an autobiographical glimpse.

I come from the country. It’s quiet and green. Women are free and mean what they mean.

The stories and the people that shape us and make us who we are, the roots of religion that often lays the foundation for future, personal, spiritual exploration. Another beautiful song. Another where women are strong.

Intriguing, enigmatic, poetic, spiritual, magical, intelligent, enchanting; Oxlip’s ‘Wolves! Cried the Maid’ is both cerebrally charming and challenging, an album with a high IQ. Listen very carefully Let Jayne Trimble’s voice ignite the imagination. - Folk & Tumble

Oxlip is Jayne Trimble, a Coney Island born singer-songwriter based now in Vancouver Canada, and a band of dreamy good musicians. The album has stickers saying it has been backed and part funded by Canadian government; there's a sense that a treasure has been found and with it a push to share with the wider world. Good call Canada, this is sublime.

It's a word I've seen used to describe Trimble's singing and before I heard her, I must admit thinking that was a bit of a bold claim- awe inspiring, elevated, paradisaical seem too far, but the cap fits and Trimble wears it extraordinarily well.

Setting the scene of the album inspiration wise- I'll do the best I can- I'd say that if you imagine a sort of inter planetary psychedelic Celtic/Americana crossroads, with paths trodden there by Mimi Parker, Maddy Prior, Fleet foxes, Pentangle, Fairport Convention - you'll find Trimble right there doing something awesome. Just to be clear- this is to set the scene- the sound of the curiously named Oxlip is unique, original and so welcome.

The songs themselves are a cauldron of mysticism, folklorist parables, arrangements of traditional songs and melodies woven together with artisan skill. There is enough variation on the album, from heritage riches to new path contemporary influence, that the 'theme' of the album is both consistent and surprising. Oxlip have developed a sound - one that's self-defined and now recognisable as solely themselves.

The first track, 'Garden of Roses', hits you like a kind of sonic bath, it's something new, a bit eerie and edgeless, starting with Trimble's layered vocals ringing unaccompanied. There's a mystical siren feel, like something you'd hear in a Middle Earth forest that may get you into trouble, or not.

'Two Lovely Swans' is mighty - a traditional melody that Trimble's lyrics seamlessly join. Slightly dirty electric guitar precedes and joins Willie Garret's whistle, lifting the composition and accenting folk rock undertones amongst the trance, trippy, slightly madrigal feel.

'This Dark Hour' has an old school, 50's late night dancefloor vibe mixing up the folk a bit which is a great and complementary contrast. Layers of heartbreak within an arrangement that leaves space for Trimble's mournful lamentation. There's hope there, a way out, 'let's go to the country and leave this dark hour, my love is like fresh milk but my heart has turned sour'. In a similar bar-room hymn style 'Prophet from St Paul' and 'The Well' blend a late night slow dance with a Sunday morning chorus.

Single string banjo and reverbed whistle, open and unadorned, start the rich traditional arrangement of 'Lark in the Morning', with that easy going, grungy guitar gently power chording beneath verses to a folk rock inspired guitar break.

The refrained 'Outshine the Devil' sports beautiful keys from Geoff Hilhorst, both classic and Hammond, with Evan Dunlop on drums being solid, well considered and light touched. Himself and bass player Chris Mason seem to form a watertight foundation, in classic Pentangle-worthy formation that allows Trimble and the rest of the band to take off throughout.

There's a strong soulful gospel/blues thread to the album; 'Dust' is a Wayfaring Stranger style ballad, with Trimble's echoing harmonies building alongside a stripped back banjo to a mournful, stunning fiddle instrumental from Kendel Carson (Even all this lot's names are ridiculously cool). A beautiful arrangement of Rev Gary Davis song 'Children of Zion', quite unrecognisable from the formidably wonderful original, features celestial vocals, well timed musical breaks and spacious tremolo style guitar and again, Oxlip make the song their own.

Overall, this is an incredible debut, sounding way more sophisticated, fully-conceived and formed that you would imagine a first album to be. It reflects the artistry inherent in its makers and I'll certainly be waiting for more from Trimble and the gang. Until then, reckon you should get this record, put it on and let it be a rich soundtrack to your easy days and hazy nights. That's what I'll be doing down here in Devon, anyway. - FATEA

Much like the music she creates, the flower that Oxlip chooses as a name grows in the woods and meadows, harnessing the power of the nature around us. The sound of Wolves! cried the maid, the latest release from Oxlip, is Folk music born in fantasy, ethereal sounds that drift and take form from the landscape that surrounds the stories. Oxlip delicately unpacks a storyline from a soft Folk Rock wrapping in “Prophet from St. Paul” as heavy sonic footsteps diligently march through the dreamy audio wisps of “The Well (that never runs dry)”. Wolves! cried the maiduses faith in government as the ink that writes the pleas of Oklahoma farmers in “Dust” and gazes out on “Two Lovely Swans” gliding on the low rumble of guitar distortion and ping/pong vocals.
Oxlip crafts songs that offer a glimpse into a different world, a through-the-looking-glass domain, decorated with bright colors and scents against a stark musical landscape in “Garden of Roses”. A weight descends in the trance rock rhythms of “This Dark Hour” as “Lark in the Morning” rises up on thick rolling sound clouds. Oxlip utters a prayer to forest gods on vocals that entreat as they echo through canyons and over vast open expanses of desert with “Children of Zion” while Wolves! cried the maidtakes a cue from a rigid rhythm to stay vigilant with its intentions as resolve weakens in “Outshine the Devil”. - The Alternate Root

Oxlip has just released their sophomore album, Wolves! Cried the Maid, worldwide through World Peach Records. It features seven original songs, one cover, and one traditional tune. Jayne Trimble, the force behind Oxlip, has haunting vocals and unique songwriting talents that bring together a variety of genres that range from folk to traditional to modern indie. Geoff Hilhorst, Chris Mason, Shuyler Jansen, and Kendel Carson also played on the album, which created an experienced cast of musicians.

The album opens with the sounds of rain, transporting you to another place during “’Wolves!’ cried the Maid”. Her soft, yet powerful vocals pull you forward through the song as if you’re walking through a haunting memory. The instrumental is strategic, highlighting the vocals with soft acoustic hymns in the background, building instrumentally, and then pulling back again. The song is truly a back and forth between the instruments and the vocals, a constant and compelling tug and pull carrying you through the song.

As the album progresses, it gets more and more enchanting. “This Dark Hour” is particularly strong, maintaining Oxlip’s folky roots while adding in a bit of waltz and a bit of modern indie lyricism. The song is the first and only single release from the album, which premiered with us here at Canadian Beats on April 20th. Filmed by Nakaone Folk in Hope Slide, BC the video is cinematic and powerful, much like the music.

Overall, this album is the perfect package of folky traditions and modern music. If you’re looking for something you’ve never heard before, you’ve got to check out Wolves! Cried the Maid. - Canadian Beats

I’m glad I took the time to get fully acquainted with Jayne Trimble’s 11 track album ‘In the Morning’ for at first, I wasn’t sure if my innocent ear deceived me – that it really is that good.

For it is, that good – worth waiting to strip back the layers on each track so it’s revealed in entirety.

First revelation – the purity of her voice. A sweet innocence and clarity betrays an inner complexity, like touching a raw nerve exposed. There is this strange, other-worldly, ethereal quality to her angelic tones, juxtaposed with lyrics so laden, it hurts. This runs through all 11 tracks. Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell, even Kate Rusby come to mind.

Second revelation – Although it’s easy and sometimes obvious to make comparisons, favourable or otherwise, Jayne Trimble’s style is uniquely her own. A strong sense of individuality comes across, despite echoes of others, Jayne Trimble makes each song her own, unique in all the world.

Third revelation – That combination of sounds – melodic introductions, meandering endings, Hammond organ, plucked strings, long purring cello, conjure all sorts of imaginings, beautifully intertwining. The Hammond becomes a striking yet subtle feature – like a ghostly character lurking there, giving several tracks a haunting, almost supernatural propensity.

The opening track ‘Lay My Burden Down’ lunges straight into traditional narrative folk mode:

Well, if I’d have listened to my mother / I’d have been gone about six months / But instead I listened to my lover / and lay my head down here.
So the story unfurls – and it ain’t happy, a tale of “what if” and “if only”… what started off as an alluring and joyful union has now become a living hell, a prison cell. Oh dear.

Despite the lilting melody, this is the dark and sombre offering of a trapped soul and troubled mind – and herewith we are introduced to the theme that runs throughout the aptly titled album ‘In The Morning’ for that’s when and where she finds solace, outside at dawn, with the free birds and their song.

Now, the tone is set for ‘The Cloak’. Bitter, harsh and unravelling, the weary traveller is trundling down the tracks, with a cold wind against her back.

Oh Lord I can’t go back / Can’t go back again / Keep me on narrow tracks / so I can see the light again.
Told you it hurt. But track three is a different entity – intriguing and poetic, titled ‘Paris of Green’ (whatever can it mean)? Once more the territory of dark tones shrouded in melody; black velvet cello with plucked guitar harken a long list of questions to a spouse from whom there appears to be no answers, except perhaps, sleeping with someone codenamed ‘Paris of Green’. Intriguing, indeed. None the wiser. Is ‘Paris of Green’ (rhyming with Strawberries and cream) metaphor or the madness that emerges from troubled domestic bliss, years after children have grown and flown, she only ever thinks of leaving, where the dust never settles, year after year? A beautiful song but not my favourite. That would be the next one. And the one after that.

‘Meet Me at the Gate’ is as mysterious as it is mystical.

There was a field / At the brow of a hill / I had a vision / Time stood still.
It could be an encounter with a lover or some deity undiscovered – whatever, it breathes a spiritual dimension or some biblical connection, laden with rural imagery of ravens and hungry crows, lillies in a field of wheat, beasts of the land, burdens and heavy loads. This easy melody, is on another level.

‘Rainy Day Georgia’ is as good as it gets – a song that lingers and remains long after it ends, filling the gaps in the mundanity of routine tasks. It’s an ear worm of a song, in the best possible taste. It makes the day seem better somehow. ‘My Love Goes to the Grave’ is tragic and sad.

I dreamed that you were standing there / with purest look of love / Your eyes they came to look at mine / but your soul had flown away.
It is a song of loss, grief, death – real or symbolic. The ghostly Hammond’s haunting notes drift in and out, as the story ends dramatically, with a goodbye note, and a rope. ‘The Girl Called Getaway’ is a strange one – beware the girl with golden hair, green eyes and skin so fair – she’ll take his money, lead him astray, “her mind is trouble / a girl called Getaway / She comes only from God knows where / where she’s going she will not say”.

Deliberately it plods along, like a horse on a dust track. Once more, Trimble hints at some supernatural, nymph-like visitation among the shadows of dawn. ‘Kingdom Come’ has another interesting intro, more upbeat.

When the wind blows / On a Sunday morning late July / I’ll be coming round a mountain / with eyes like a lighthouse / they sit out on a mountain / they warn me of the dawn.
Featuring a sing-a-long chorus “It’s a long, long road, to kingdom come” which echoes that spiritual journey theme she’s been exploring all along, tantalising yet blindingly honest and open. The track called ‘3 Horses’ brings us right bang back into that visionary, biblical landscape I mentioned earlier. For a girl that lives in old stables (I wasn’t born there mind you), I am by nature drawn to things horsey when they present – and here is another Jayne Trimble song that leaves me feeling like I’ve slipped into some dream-like, faraway realm.

Last night as I lay sleeping / I heard a trumpet call / three horses stood there grazing / On the banks of Babylon.
It is a song of epic proportion. A trumpet heralds a heavenly character descend from on high, a la Book of Revelations. This one gives goose bumps, not simply because of its theatrical manifestations, but because of its revelations about the artist – the scope of her vivid imagination and ability to revel in such glorious, unbridled imagery.

The penultimate track, ‘Heartache of Goodbye’ sees Jayne’s voice at its sweetest and most innocent. The chorus line is “in the morning” – the album title, for it is time to say an aching good bye – but not without one last track. ‘Cold as Hell’ is frankly, quite chilling and contrasts starkly with the rest. She brings in other voices, to sing in harmony.

It’s cold as hell / and I won’t get out, I won’t get out alive.
Tongue in cheek perhaps; a parody on anxiety. It’s something of a horror story – a nightmare-esque, spooky eulogy. There’s something freaking her out, “creeping all around this house / It’s come in through my door and rips my flesh and bones / Oh I won’t get out alive / If I should die tonight / would you decorate my grave with lillies that are white as snow / When all is said and done, will you let my loved one’s know / that I tried to get out alive.”

It’s a twisting, interesting epilogue – a song for this season of Hallow’een maybe. When all is said and done, Jayne Trimble’s ‘In The Morning’ is a carefully crafted collection of intelligent, haunting and curious songs, beautifully sung and presented – timeless, gentle folk songs – with a lot more going on.

Her voice, quite simply, is to die for; enchanted. - Folk & Tumble