Two Wings
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Music
Press
How to describe Two Wings? Psych Folk? Folk Rock? Wyrd Folk? Acid Folk? Nu Folk?These descriptions don't begin to do this extraordinary band full justice. Imagine one of the classic folk rock bands [Fairport/Steeleye] fronted by the long-lost cousin of KateBush/Bjork/ Joanna Newsome and an electric guitarist cloned from Richard Thompson, with a brass band and some country and western licks thrown in for good measure. Now you're beginning to get the picture!
Two Wings is a folk rock "super group" consisting of Finnish-English vocalist,musician and artist Hanna Tuulikki ; guitarist Ben Reynolds of the excellent Trembling Bells plus Lucy Duncombe and Kenneth Wilson [both of experimental folk band Trees] ,Owen Curtis Williams and Emily Roff.
Hanna's voice is ,shall we say, very unusual but once you get attuned to it , it is irresistible. So is the music, which becomes more addictive with every play. Listening to the album has been described by one listener as "like plunging into some deep cosmic bath" and I would not disagree. Opening track "Eikon" sets the tone with soulful ,wailing vocals from Hanna with shimmering guitar and swirls of jazzrock horns.
Second track "Feet" is a quiet ,acoustic ballad with a country-ish feel and Calexico-like horns. The title track "Love's Spring " is a seven minute epic of folk-baroque loveliness ,where medieval recorders meet acid-rock guitars .Fantastic stuff! "Valley " is another gentle acoustic ballad , which speeds up into a country- rock finale which wouldn't sound out of place at the Grand Ole Opry !!!
"Altars and Thrones" is [I think] a meditation on death and has an ethereal quality, somewhat reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins,and is quite haunting. "Just Like" is another seven minute folk-rock epic, complete with Thompson-esque guitar , a lovely brass section and more of Hanna's extraordinary vocals.
If anything, Two Wings save the best for last. The final track "Forbidden Sublime" is a masterpiece which builds slowly over nearly nine minutes .Again the combination of Ben's amazing guitar , the brass section and Hanna's singing is just wonderful.
This is an incredible record which I unreservedly recommend.
File under NuWyrdPsychFolkAcidRock - Fatea Records - Peter Cowley
Hanna Tuulikki’s first love is to sing. Her second love is to draw. The Sussex-born Anglo-Finn thus juggles her time as artist, illustrator and musician in Glasgow where she stayed after studying environmental art at the GSA.
Alongside still or moving images, Hanna frequently utses the voice as a material in response to specific places, in projects that have seen her replicate sounds of the sea and birds, and create song portraits with communities in Glasgow, Fife and Liverpool.
Her distinctive drawings, filled with recurring symbols, have adorned covers of albums, magazines, and books, and after the success of a T-shirt design commissioned by The Wire magazine, she recently produced her own.
Her unique voice and straight-from-the-heart song craft spearheads various musical projects, most notably folk-rock band Two Wings and free-folk trio Nalle. She can be heard in Simon Yuill’s documentary film Stackwalker for which she created the soundtrack. - The List
Two Wings! Two Wings! I’m gearing myself up for a 2015 spent constantly boring people with the story of how I saw Two Wings in a tiny room above a pub in 2011. Two Wings play creative, original and perfectly executed Psych-folk. Their first album has been recorded with legendary producer – and Radiophonic Workshop expert and author of the Pink Floyd Piper 33 & 1/3 book – John Cavanagh, and should be coming out soon. I think they make Joanna Newsom‘s Ys sound like a mobile phone recording of a dress rehearsal of a primary school play. I love them more than I love Buckingham Nicks and Tusk combined, and more than I would love it if all the good bits of Hark! The Village Wait and Lionheart were melded into one super-album. I’m salivating to hear the rest of the Two Wings album. I might even make myself a Two Wings t-shirt. If you can’t listen to their Bandcamp because you’re at work, or your computer doesn’t have sound, Two Wings‘ members have formerly been involved in a whole bevvy of projects you can use to assess their position on your musical Venn, including Trembling Bells, Alasdair Roberts, Baby Dee, Nalle, Scatter and The Family Elan. Awesome!” Adventures Close To Home - Adventures Close To Home Promoters
"…a Gallic-tinged five-piece….. straddling somewhere between a helium-inflected Beth Gibbons and Babooshka-era Kate Bush. Refusing to be pigeon-holed they flit from mid-Americana country to anthemic seventies rock.” The Skinny - The Skinny
"...a new sixties tinged folk-rock and country waltz quintet." The Herald - The Herald
Discography
Two Wings - Love's Spring (2012, Tin Angel Records)
Photos
Bio
As the noughties came to a close, Two Wings (whose core members are singer/multiinstrumentalist/visual artist Hanna Tuulikki and guitarist/singer Ben Reynolds) had its birth. Having spent years bumping into each other in Glasgow’s burgeoning folk scene, the pair finally took some time out to explore and develop their own compositions together, following in the direction of their many musical passions - from traditional folk (rock) to rock n’ roll to psychedelia to soul and beyond.
Glasgow has always been fertile ground for those seeking to synthesize traditional/ popular musical forms with a more progressive approach, and Hanna and Ben have long been travellers on this path. Hanna's experimental song-based project Nalle was described by Wire Magazine as “easily some of the most convincing free-folk the UK has ever produced”. She was also a member of free form jazz folk ensemble Scatter and The Family Elan. Ben has been a solo artist for many years and his numerous releases include the 2009 solo guitar album How Day Earnt Its Night, released by New York's Tompkins Square Records. Ben was also the original lead-guitarist in critically acclaimed Glasgow folk-rockers Trembling Bells and has collaborated with a number
of other artists including Glasgow's Alasdair Roberts and Tin Angel Records' Baby Dee.
Two Wings' line-up is completed by instrument builder and bass guitarist Kenny Wilson, singer Lucy Duncombe and drummer Owen Curtis Williams (Wood Pigeon, Eagleowl, Rob St John, Benni Hemm Hemm).
Links
