Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Long may Folk music remain in the hearts of all those who are touched by it, for it seems at times it is the one genre that relishes in its ability to knock at the door of corporate insanity, of Government lunacy and the madness of the well proportioned and bring them to a semblance of account or at least raise the awareness of what is happening in the world within the listener.

If Folk music, or at least the purity of it is to survive then the songs of old and new must continue to exist, the marriage of modern thought and ways of expressing the struggle must lay in tandem with wise words from another time, another place and in Jez Hellard & The Djukella Orchestra, that marriage is seamless, unyielding and dynamic, it is as robust as time and as sturdy as Heavy Wood.

The album’s unrestrained argument, neatly packaged, positively held out as an example of just how many actually do think in the right minded way, is one of a truth and sacrifice to the cause, of holding a hand out and hoping that at least one person will take it and hold it tightly. It is the marriage of thought, decency and worded power that makes Heavy Wood a scintillating addition to the works of political comment and sceptic’s pleasure.

The wide range of emotional anger is allowed to flourish but never spill over into the realms of dissatisfaction, it is the best of marriages, it flows without pressure, it guides without malice and in the end produces such a selection of songs that the listener can only ever be enthralled.

Whether taking the recordings of others and bringing them back into wide appreciating circles or through the innovative lyrical edge of the band’s work, Jez Hellard & The Djukella Orchestra bring harmony where there is destruction and in tracks such as Scott Cook’s The Lord Giveth (And The Landlord Taketh Away) and Pass It Along, the serenity of repelling invasion in We Have The Time and Billy Rowan’s truthful and abiding Borders the marriage is complete and heartfelt.

If the wood cannot be seen for the trees then a Heavy Wood is a powerful and uniquely beautiful scene in which to raise an army of conscious thought, a terrific and well balanced album which bares all.

Ian D. Hall