The Willkommen label seems to be breeding a stable of dark horses. Over the past 18 months or so, they’ve brought us wonderful, folk-flecked slices of loveliness from The Leisure Society, Sons of Noel & Adrian and The Climbers and now they’re at it again with this self-titled debut from the mysterious LAISH.
So who or what the hell are Laish? Well, apparently the word is of ancient, enigmatic derivation and it translates as ‘tribe of Dan.’ Fitting, as they are the brainchild of one Daniel Green, a Brighton native who also plays drums and sings with Sons of Noel & Adrian as well and finding windows in his diary for Laura Marling and The Climbers. As Laish, he’s complemented by fellow SON&A alumnus Cathy Cardin (vocals), Jo Burke (violin) and rhythm section Ben Gregory and Mike Miles.
Between them, they have boxed up and gift-wrapped another of those quiet little gems Willkommen seem happy to leave on our doorsteps with increasing regularity. ‘Laish’ is indeed the sound of folk-flecked loveliness, but once again there’s a likeable ‘otherness’ and a witty, off-kilter way of looking at the world going on and it makes for a very satisfying 40 minute listen.
Opener ‘Song on a Transition’ gives you some idea what to expect. Built upon bucolic strumming and some determined, Seven Dwarves-style whistling, it’s so rumpled it’s almost the sound of someone waking up being caught on tape (albeit rather gloriously) with the bass and drums making a typically unassuming entry mid-way through. Imagine a south-coast equivalent of James Yorkston & The Athletes and you’re getting there.
Lyrically, Dan’s songs veer alarmingly from bliss to disappointment. On the gentle, befuddled ‘In the Morning’, Dan swoons “you can make my voice change”, while ‘The Love Written Down’ seems to want to make to put love on a more permanent footing, envisaging a Gretna Green wedding-on-the-fly scenario where “you booked the room with the registrar.” The downside of the romantic coin, meanwhile, is flipped on ‘Anymore’ where – over a suitably melancholic, accordion-soused lilt – a heartbroken Green bemoans “do my words not satisfy anymore?”
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The music, too, is always organic and often very spontaneous in feel. Songs like ‘We Speak the Mantra’ and ‘To Do’ (which appears to be a bloke coming round to unblock the drains) are sparse, introspective affairs, while ‘Pity No More’ opens with the sound of coughing before flecks of violin, guitar and tambourine quietly conspire to sound very special indeed. ‘Warmth & Humility’, meanwhile, has a title which pretty much sums the record up in one handy sound-bite. In it, Dan’s wonderfully dry and lugubrious vocal notes “I cannot bear it if I can’t find time for the ones I love.” Amen to that.
So hello and welcome to Laish. I’m hoping this fine eponymous debut is merely the sound of things to come and that Dan won’t follow his own advice on the valedictory ‘A Happy Accident’ when he sings “I should probably just give up and go do something else.” To these ears, such a nonsensical act would be a reckless act of curtailment.
Willkommen Records online
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