Sharron Kraus — Pilgrim Chants & Pastoral Trails

Pilgrim Chants & Pastoral Trails is Sharron Kraus sonic tribute to weathered, sometime barren, but always beautiful landscapes of Mid-Wales.  This CD release offers up eight sound-scapes which sit on the more moody & atmospheric side of folk music. The tracks are built around a mix of Kraus earthy yet warming (& mostly wordless )vocals, tuneful yet dramatic folk instrumentation, and subtle ebbs of field recordings from around mid-Wales's valleys & rivers.

The release comes in slightly oversized booklet/ folder form- on its board cover we get misty colour pictures of the Welsh landscape. And inside more monochrome pictures of the landscape, a fairly lengthy write-up about how the project came about & Kraus’s visits to Mid Wales, and the meaning & theme behind each of  the tracks with-in.

Sonically Kraus handles most of the elements here taking in: Voice, guitar, dulcimer, organ, recorders, drones, percussion, field recordings. With supporting roles from Harriet Earis on Harp, Mark Wilden on  Drums, and Simon Lewis on Korg MS-20. The tracks move between warming yet barren, though to joyous ‘n’ earthy , onto slightly more experimental  & darker fare. With most of the tracks nicely balancing between haunting, atmospheric & memorable, with the subtle field recordings being used to great effect to edge & enhance the tracks atmosphere.

All told this is another very pleasing & atmospheric work from Kraus- which perfectly captures the beauty & barren wonder of Mid-Wales.