Poachers, The – Back in the Woods

CD Review by Chris Spencer

The Poachers are a trio from Brisbane, consisting of Penny Boys on vocals, Cathy Bell on fiddle and accordion and Andrew Heath on guitar, Bouzouki, bass and mandolin.

Coming together in 1998, the trio released an earlier album in 2000.

On this recording the band have chosen to record six covers they include songs of Karen Poston a US singersongwriter (Lydia), Ger Wolfe an Irish singersongwriter (Three Long Years), Lori McKenna another American folk singer (One Man).

There’s a Bob Dylan cover, a Mark Cryle song and a Henry Lawson song with music by Chris Kempster.

This ep is a laid back affair, the ambience is steady, gentle and unobtrusive.

Boys’ voice is similar to those of say Sandy Denny or Maddy Prior.

The instrumentation is lush, well recorded, yet doesn’t dominate the vocals.

The Mark Cryle song, Queen of the Great Below is about a shipwreck, the Dylan song is Tomorrow is a Long Time and also appears on the Festival Folk Sing Bob Dylan album. The Henry Lawson song is Do You Think That I Do Not Know.

The Ger Wolfe song seems to be about a man watching his infant grow up while One Man reminisces about a couple’s early romance noting how their old neighbourhood has changed over time.

I think the band wanted a recording that reflected their intent to have a cohesive sound, but despite every song being written by different composers, I thought the songs sounded too similar – perhaps they need to vary the rhythms more or get Bell or Heath to take over lead vocals on a song or two.

An enjoyable listen though.