Fern Knight is the eponymous third full-length release from this fixture on North Philadelphia's internationally renowned musical community. As the primary cover for Margaret Wienk's singing and songwriting, this record fully unleashes her style of melding acoustic and electronic sounds, her careful orchestration alongside the improvisational strengths of the quartet, well-placed strings and crystalline vocals. Displaying her classical roots and psychedelic leanings, Fern Knight will be released into the world by the VHF label on May 5, 2008.
The new recording highlights the sonic cohesion of the quartet, featuring longtime member Jesse Sparhawk on harp and electric bass, Jim Ayre on Flying V and drums/percussion and noted Sun Ra scholar James Wolf on violin. The calm surface of harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric bass underneath. All throughout is a dark undercurrent of lyrical and vocal mystery.
The overall effect is a lush and pastoral ode to all things living, a running theme that winds through the lyrics: "All is lost / and all will run / over graying ground / to the rays of the sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track "Magpie Suite: Part III." The spirit conveyed on Fern Knight (vhf #110) is that of a beautiful green age in an apocalyptic landscape about to be laid to dust and its struggle to escape this end.
Some of the songs depicting this green age on the album were written while in Ireland, "...We got stranded on one of the Aran Islands due to high seas. One day we amused ourselves by following the numerous and circuitous signs around the island pointing the way to the author Synge's Chair, a landmark; after a few hours of circling we gave up, never finding it, hence the song 'Synge's Chair,' which depicts our journey, the things we saw along the way and the conclusions we drew about the fate of said chair. I tried to stage it in a vaguely folkloric context and structured the song like a traditional folk tune with lots of verses telling a story." (Wienk)
Other songs were written as odes for stateside landscapes like the bogs of the NJ Pine Barrens, while the album's closing three tracks are an apocalyptic song cycle called "The Magpie Suite: Prelude, Part II, Part III." The Prelude's lyrics are taken from Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and features exquisite overlapping male and female vocal lines sung by Wienk and Greg Weeks, setting the stage for what is to come. Part II is a lullaby for the green age being laid to dust, while Part III instills some hope that there will still be life, and that maybe the beauty exalted in the other songs on the album will survive human folly. The album's closer is built around a Baroque-era ground bass line on the cello with a repeating vocal melody and harmony. The triumphant boys' choir part (sung by Orion Rigel Dommisse and Ex Reverie's Gillian Chadwick) swoops in from above to deliver the final statement.
Born in Wisconsin and raised in upstate NY, Fern Knight's guitarist/cellist/singer Margaret Wienk grew up in a household that cultivated literature and music, and where on a given day one could hear the sounds of Allen Ginsberg reading "Howl" on cassette, a scratchy LP of Bob Dylan and someone practicing the piano. It was therefore no surprise when Margaret headed off to music school as a teen with her double bass, and it was there that she melded her love of poetry and music together in the form of songwriting: "I gravitate towards melancholic music, so I draw heavily from influences such as medieval and renaissance music, folk music from France and the British Isles and Indian classical music," says Wienk of her songs. These influences are easy to discern on Fern Knight's second full-length Music for Witches and Alchemists (vhf #101) on "Song for Ireland," with its Eastern rhythmic underpinnings, and on Fern Knight , "Silver Fox" and "Synge's Chair" feature narrative verse and repeated refrains, as in traditional folk song structures.
After moving to Philadelphia two years ago, Fern Knight has evolved into a solid touring and recording quartet, playing on local bills with legends like Vashti Bunyan, Gary Higgins and Joe Boyd and contemporaries Vetiver and White Magic. During this time Fern Knight was written and recorded. Driven by Wienk's acoustic guitar, cello and crystal vocals, their cohesive sound rests upon the core quartet's tasteful combination of acoustic and electronic instruments, providing the perfect vehicle for Wienk's unique songwriting and string arrangements.
Jesse Sparhawk (harp and electric bass) is a long-time member of Fern Knight and can be heard on records by The Valerie Project, Timesbold, Jaggery, Noa Babayof and Ilya Monosov. Jim Ayre (Flying V and drums/percussion) is an improv musician (Rake/Sunwards/C-n-V/The Valerie Project) who likes to play on the dark side of the wah. James Wolf (violin) works at the Library of Congress and is a noted Sun Ra scholar having compiled and edited the most complete source fo Sun Ra's poetry, "Sun Ra: The Immeasurable Equation, The Collected Poetry and Prose" as well as other published articles.
All Music Guide: Fern Knight's third album will on many levels appeal to fans of the early 21st century variations of acid folk music. It has some of the same characteristics: gentle female vocals, a tentative delicacy, and an audible debt to British folk and folk-rock of the late '60s and early '70s (although singer/songwriter/cellist Margie Wienk is American). There are some differences, or at least unusual shadings, that set them off from the pack. There's a pronounced chamber music feel to much of the instrumentation, particularly with the liberal use of cello and violin drones, as well as harp accents. Often it's darker and tougher, however, than some other artists who follow similar lines. There's a sinister grit to the playing, and melodies that belie but do not undercut the sweetness of Wienk's vocals, and while the arrangements don't have anything like a classic bass-drums rock rhythm section, there are some occasional blasts of ferocious electric guitar. The overall impact treads the border between the haunting and the truly spooky, though some of the material, especially "Synge's Chair," sounds like it could almost be traditional in origin. If the influence of vintage British acid folk is audible, it must be said that it is in the strength of the songs and the clarity of the production; this is more impressive than many obscure relics of much earlier vintage in the same style that are championed by some collectors. ~ Richie Unterberger.
Raven Sings the Blues: Another beautiful piece of dark magic from Philly's inner circle. Fern Knight is the guise of songwriter and gossamer voiced singer, Margaret Wienk. This is the most fully formed and devastatingly potent album she's done under the Fern moniker yet. Her voice hangs unobscurred and terribly assured above the harmonic scrabble of sun baked guitars and harrowing strings, played amiably by a group that includes Jesse Sparhawk, Jim Ayre and James Wolf. Recorded by PA-Folk ringleader extraordinaire, Greg Weeks and put forth by VHF, this certainly has all the right pieces to the puzzle. Despite the cast and crew that bolter this production though, it really is Wienk's voice and songwriting that shine on this eponymous album. When the tone is somber, her voice captures you in its sadness but never lets you feel pity and when the mood turns light, it pulls the sun from every corner of the room like drawing a shade. So far its been quite a fair year for folk but this is definitely the strongest folk release, and more to the point one of the strongest records I've heard all year. This is definitely one to anticipate. Fern Knight's s/t is out May 6th.
Baby Sue: The folks in Fern Knight return with another unique album that is wonderfully out of place in today's musical climate. This band is the project headed by Philadelphia-based guitarist/cellist/vocalist Margaret Wienk. Wienk and her associates create otherworldly progressive pop that seems to be influenced by some of the best British progressive art bands from the 1970s. Some of the compositions on this album could be compared to Curved Air and even Henry Cow at times...but that only gives a slight idea of what this music sounds like. The songs on this self-titled album are soft and thoughtful and feature some truly absorbing and unusual (and extremely subtle) arrangements. At the heart of the music are Margaret's beautiful, heartfelt vocals. This album is the perfect fusion of folk, pop, and classical music. Folks who may be becoming increasingly tired of the same old generic throwaway pop of the twenty-first century will find a lot to take in here. Cool, classy cuts include "Bemused," "Sundew," "Loch Na Fooey," and "Magpie Suite: Part II, Part III." Highly recommended... (Rating: 5+++)
Excerpt: The "Magpie Suite: Prelude, Part II, Part III" is a song-cycle written as an ode to all things green and living. While much of it was written during a six-week stay in Ireland, the songs are exaltations of the beauty we found in the landscapes there contrasted by the pending environmental destruction we see here at home in the U.S. The suite itself explores the slow erosion of our beautiful earth and a descent into self-inflicted destruction--and what direction we as a species might take in the end.
Buy the forthcoming issue of Magpie Magazine (UK) to read the entire story.