Edinburgh’s four piece folk band Shooting Stansfield should be on your radar - If they’re not, get them on it right away.
Shooting Stanfield is led by vocalist Stewart Douglas, whose vocals is
reminiscent of Tom Smith out of the Editors, or Ryan Adams – but perhaps with a
James Taylor pop sensibility, and of course Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit. The group themselves flourish well with their
sound, which overall comes off as somewhere between a raspier-rock group like
Stereophonics, and something purely country or folk like O’Death or Night Beds,
both of which have rose to great popularity this year, so pretty good company
to be in for sure. It is especially good to be making true folk music in an era
with lots of falseness in the air and the industry in terms of authenticity in
folk music. The real thing just sounds that much better because of it.
Their production is extremely impressive
for an up and coming band, an almost veteran clarity to most of the tune on “Blue Turns Black” which is really significant. Production is so often
given no credit in the world of folk music, with lots of lo-fi acts making out
like bandits with their poorly tuned instruments and cheap recording equipment.
It works for some – not for others. Shooting Stansfield is one of the latter
and they seem aware of it, backing themselves up with slick and extremely
serious production that enhances their sounds and make them sound like they
could be coming straight form a producer with as prolific as T. Bone Burnett.
Shooting Stansfield’s debut EP is called We Know Not What We Do and its
available here.
~Johnny Hoel