This month, we were graced once again by the sounds of the mysterious, eclectic and impeccably dressed Blood Wizard - an alt-folk, indie artist who’s making waves amongst the UK music scene by convincing a bunch of post-punk kids that, actually, they want to listen to soft, nice music.
Cai Burns, lead vocalist and guitarist for Blood Wizard, has been doing the rounds for a while. He comes from a punk-rock background, having fronted Nottingham punk band Kagoule - but could now indeed be considered the sole driver behind this new project, considering he writes and develops the tunes himself. Yet since “Too Late For The Disco” and some of their previous singles, it seems as if the Blood Wizard creative team (Burns, Faye Robinson and Julian Hanson - who also plays with Sinead O’Brien) have become an unruly band of sorts, travelling to obscure deserts and strange, orange mountains to shoot their videos (take a look at the video for Imaginary House if you wanna know what I mean), all whilst roaring around the UK.
On their latest offering, my thoughts were immediately focused on the production. The electric and acoustic guitars within the first 10 seconds of the song have been mixed together so nicely I could cry. Someone’s got golden ears out there, and they’re mixing Burns’ home recordings.
The lyrics on this track are mesmerising. Burns has a distinct writing style throughout his entire discography, with really captivating lines that tend to draw you in like old-school storytelling songs, but with more of a zing to them. As well as this, the delivery on Cai’s vocals is so soft and tender, I could cry a second time.
Expectedly, the hints of country & folk sprinkled on top of the song were very carefully placed and very satisfying, too. However, I feel like the bottom layers on this track, as sweet as they may be, were a little too foggy, and could maybe benefit from some stronger, slightly more punchy rhythm to equalise the airy feel.
Finally, the ending of this song is truly perfectly arranged, the amalgamation of the softest fingers and the softest instruments just leaves you wanting more, and in truth I’m more than excited for Blood Wizard’s new “Imaginary House” EP, having been a fan of the other singles too!
Find Blood Wizard on Instagram here.
Listen to the single here.
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