Album Review

Trapped Mice – Winter Sun

• 31st Oct 2012

Winter Sun is the debut album from Edinburgh five piece alternative folk band Trapped Mice. There are some good songs here and stirring instrumentation, all with a melancholy feel, yet with occasional touches of humour that lighten things nicely or add a caustic edge. Organ, accordion and violins mix with acoustic guitars and a strong lead vocal to give a well-crafted feel to much of the music.

The album opens with an accordion based instrumental track called, perversely, An Ending and Cancel Shift, which perhaps hints at what is to come. It’s a decent track with vocals that range from high pitched to almost spoken, although there is a messy feel to the production.

The middle section of the album is where Trapped Mice’s quality shines through. Dance While Winter Cries is simply beautiful. It’s slower, and there is a passion to its simplicity that works well. The violin adds atmosphere, gentle and mournful, the vocal delivery is lovely and the acoustic guitar work is great. The single Mona Lisa has gentle organ and mournful violin backing a passionate lead vocal. This is a great love song with a twist and it rises powerfully towards folk rock territory.

Hermit Point was inspired by a man in the North of Scotland who refused to sell his house to Donald Trump for his coastal leisure development. The song imagines him in his old age wondering what might have been. The violin again features strongly and a fine female harmony adds much to the tone. In Quiet Place a middle-aged couple embark on an adventure of sexual rediscovery. With minimal backing the story is introduced gently, the sense of last youth and missed opportunity evident, before the pace picks up.

Night Of Broken Glass sounds closest to a traditional folk song, although it has a harder edge. This one has a slightly slower tempo and drags a little. Cameraman is a spoken word track, only a minute or so long. It tells of murder and mayhem and in itself it is interesting on a first listen, but for me it kills the momentum of the album. It just doesn’t really fit here. Arthur’s Seat follows and doesn’t quite manage to get things going again.

Thankfully the album has a strong finish. The Devil Wanders In has a menacing edge to it, again with a fine vocal performance. And the closing Demons, a short track with the vocals backed by just an acoustic guitar is powerful and passionate.

Winter Sun is a good album, and stands up well overall as a debut. Trapped Mice clearly have talent and the ability to create songs that tell stories in the folk tradition. Some work better than others, but the highlights make this an album well worth hearing.

Venue: Winter Sun
Support Band: Armellodie Records