Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
What do we see when we investigate the heart of the darkened woods? Some will see fear, the conjuring in their minds of creatures that are base like, driven by primal urges, a place where ghosts and demons, witches and hermits make their play with human kind, and others, they see beauty, they feel the peace that the shade provides, and it is no wonder that these two dividing opinions are at the heart of centuries old traditions and folk lore, tales that inspire, and frighten in equal measure.
Into The Woods, the chance to stride or to cower in nature’s stomach, to feel the expression of a world unseen, or to pray that you don’t become a meal for the starving and wicked. The woods though created by Amy Hopwood is one of forest dreams, of harmony, of patience and reveal in its own immortal time, and in her new album the framing of the spirit, the sprite, the will-o-the-wisp that inhabits this glade is one of exploration into the realm of the psychological world in which the fairy tales only tell half the story, and which what was left out is more dramatic than what we might fear or embrace.
The woods are dark half worlds, and Amy Hopwood understands this fully, and in this her third studio album, she plays with the imagery in a special way, the thought of how the old tales are relevant today, how the world outside the woods changes, but never alters in its centuries old narrative; this is power and beauty installed by Amy Hopwood, the challenge to us to see the illusion of the dark wood is only there because it is useful to those who wish to see us cower to never reason what truly scares us.
Through passages of female persuasion and narrative glory, such as the opener Brambles, Three Impossible Tasks, The Oak And The Ash, The Woodpecker’s Song, The Liar And The Taylor, and Best Served Cold, Amy Hopwood takes the issues surrounding, overwhelming us today such as political gaslighting, the micro bullying that is deemed acceptable through the work place, within relationships, or even arguably in the world of social media, and reflects upon how they stand when we first learned that the wood is a place of peace and another creature’s home.
Full of harmony, but one willing to break down the appearance of conformity, Into The Woods is a joyous respect to that which gave us stories of wisdom and knowledge, Amy Hopwood has produced an album of integrity and fulsome musical beauty that must be appreciated without doubt.
Ian D. Hall