Only Daniel Wylie from Glasgow was on the radar here and now we have another promising band, Doghouse Roses. At the heart of this formation is singer Iona Macdonald and guitarist Paul Tasker who also wrote 9 of the 10 songs here.
Their musical habitat is in the folk-blues scene, albeit with a lot of attention and respect for traditional acoustic sound. Doghouse Roses was formed in late 2005 by the couple after a few evenings and nights were spent listening to old music from their record collection. They then decided to try to create their own sound with all the musical influences of bands like "The Pentangle" and "Fairport Convention" in perfect harmony could be combined with vocal performances a la Gillian Welch.
After the first 2 EPs were gently thrown onto the market the general public are now treated to their first full length CD ("How've you been (All This Time)?" For the production they called on Malcolm Lindsay who previously earned his stripes as a producer for the Delgado's and Willard Grant Conspiracy.
Robert Fisher of WGC also recently invited both musicians to join him to work on his latest CD "Pilgrim Road" and subsequently had them join a part of the touring band. The beautiful voice of Iona Macdonald sound flawless and does frequently call to mind folk singers as Sandy Denny and Linda thompson.
The ten songs on this album are alt-folk and country folk oriented songs with our clear favourite being the intimate and acoustic songs such as "All i Knew","Greener The Grass" which appeared as the albums first single, "The Earth & The Breeze" (sounds like the work of Natalie Merchant) and Pilgrim's Tale, the only song written by Iona Macdonald. On the beautiful "Stalling" is subtle piano with added playful violins. But the general mood of the album remains intimate and sober. The captivating and ethereal voice of Iona Macdonald to us is the greatest instrument on this album.
Marcie, December 2008
