Riharc Smiles — The Last Green Days of Summer

Riharc Smiles make an often very joyful and tuneful mix of Neo Folk, progressive medieval folk and pop with a really bounce to almost every song here- making this an album that will appeal way beyond normal folk crowd.

The songs are built from a distinctive, dense and warming  instrumental mix of bagpipes, Hurdy gurdy, accordion, flutes, acoustic guitar, chanters and percussion. Along with subtle and atmospheric field recording elements, That’s All top off with male vocals that rather brought to mind Edward Ka-Spel  (The Legendary Pink Dots,solo). With all the songs manage the difficult balance of sounding both from times past yet also very fresh and vibrate,this is traditional folk music with a bit of a punch and modern/ sometimes experimental edger’s. But this never goes too odd or experimental- unlike most of the releasers on the excellent Ahnstern label, it stays focused in creating an authentic yet buoyant and highly memorable mix with an ear always kept on weaving in pop like touches. The pace is kept fairly constant and upbeat through-out with only one song dipping into piano led balladry. The only downside about the album is it only just gets to the half an hour mark- so it feels over much too fast, but I guess it’s better to be short and punchy instead of dragging and indulgent.

I can really see this appealing to those who don’t usual do folk as it so buoyant, memorable and original. Really if you looking for something a little different, but thats still tuneful, well played and conceived The Last Green days of Summer is for you. Really unmissble stuff and one of the crown jewels in the Ahnstern back catalogue.