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Midwinter
The Waters Of Sweet Sorrow



Obscure acid folk with a high wind chill factor.

Midwinter

No doubt many momentous events happened at the Great Yarmouth Folk Club Christmas party in December 1972, but of most importance to fans of English gothic was the formation of short-lived spook-folk trio, Midwinter. After failing to compose anything for the promised party, other than an intrumental duet of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, guitarists Paul Corrick and Ken Saul enlisted the help of local teenage vocalist Jill Child whose interest in weird East Anglian folklore lent their simple folk groove a dark lyrical slant. Despite occasional bum notes from all three vocalists, and a tendency for some of the guitar solos to go on that bit too long, Midwinter’s tales of slain lovers, damned sisters and devils on horseback (like this
Not this) possess the same cold fog of creeping dread as the short stories of M.R. James. Midwinter came to an end when Child left for college in 1974 and Ken and Paul formed Stone Angel, but somewhere along the way they lost their eeriness.

Andrew Male

Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 31/12/2008

Further Listening

PentangleSolomon’s Seal (Reprise, 1972)

Stone AngelStone Angel (private pressing, 1974/Kissing Spell 2004)

PJ Harvey - White Chalk (Island, 2007)


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folk , Midwinter

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