With their latest album, Marlinchen in the Snow, Melbourne’s folk-pop sister duo Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes, aka Charm of Finches, aim to melt the icy complexities of human emotion with warm rays of nostalgia. They list Sufjan, Phoebe Bridgers and First Aid Kit as key influences, with the latter being foremost on the ear, with similarly gorgeous, intricate harmonies and eerie, evocative storytelling.
Recorded in the serene winter landscapes of Nova Scotia, Marlinchen in the Snow is cloaked in the aura and mystery of that season. From the airy chill of album opener, ‘Clean Cut’ to the haunting echoes of ‘In the Dark’, Charm of Finches draw inspiration from the intersecting shadows of childhood folklore and their experience of both real and metaphysical journeys. Throughout the album, there is a lingering sweet tension between the desire for, and reality of change. You hear it in the swaying wanderlust of ‘Leave It All Behind’ and its poignant longing for adventure that means turning your back on the familiar comforts of home. Then there are the fleeting moments of connection and happiness on ‘Temporary Home‘, which builds a wistful picture of the strains of a life on the road, its layered vocals agitated by an unsettled rhythm. Elsewhere, tracks like ‘Atlantis’ explore the vastness and weight of doubting a relationship, plunging us into a freezing ocean dappled with ghostly strings.
While Marlinchen in the Snow is mostly grounded in traditional folk, Charm of Finches lift it up with a strong sense of contemporary pop. ‘Middle of Your Mess’ , for example grapples with the complexities of female relationships while drawing us in with its featherlight humour, precise production and sticky chorus. The freshness of the “Wes Anderson meets Heathers” accompanying video also brings the song to life. Similarly, ‘On My Own’ , uses close harmonies while playing with the space around the melody, and, like the subject of the song, finds its own original path. Other tracks appear more tentative and vulnerable at first, such as ‘Bend and Break’ and ‘If You Know Me’ (featuring Sam Bentley of The Paper Kites), while lyrically and musically their strength runs much deeper, rolling out like a powerful undertow. These juxtapositions lend this album a spark of intrigue throughout, never jarring or sounding out of place.
At its heart lies the title track, inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s tale, The Juniper Tree. “The tale follows a little girl, Marlinchen”, explains Charm of Finches, “she buries her dead brother before he transforms into a bird, singing the truth of his demise at the hands of his stepmother. There’s a lot more to it, but we feel it’s a story of female strength, battling oppressive obstacles and rising above them to pave a path led by your inner voice. These themes inhabit a lot of the songs on the album and, in a sense, encapsulate what it’s been like for us as artists.” It’s a fitting metaphor for an album that navigates the tangled webs of love, loss, and longing. Yet beyond the melancholy, there is hope, as heard in the album’s wonderfully gleaming closing track, In the Dark, with its whispered promises of renewal.
Even in the winter, it’s summertime somewhere in the world. On Marlinchen in the Snow, Charm of Finches somehow create an enchanting musical space where both coexist.
’Marlinchen in the Snow’ is released on 19th April via independent (ROW) and Spunk Records (Australia and New Zealand).
You can catch the sisters on their extensive UK Spring/Summer tour including a headline show at The Lexington, London. Support from Canadian artist Mia Kelly.
UK TOUR:
MAY
22 – Glasgow, Glad Café
23 – Orkney Folk Festival
JUNE
6 – Chester, St Mary’s
7 – Saltaire, Live Room
8 – Sheffield, The Greystones
9 – Shrewsbury, The Hives
10 – Lemington Spa, Temperance
11 – Kings Heath, Kitchen Garden
13 – Exeter, Phoenix
14 – Bristol, Flophouse
16 – Whitstable, Whitstable Sessions
18 – Evesham, The Fleece Inn Barn
19 – Manchester, King’s Arms
20 – London, The Lexington
21 – Newbury, Ace Space
22 – Corsham, Pound Arts
23 – Brighton, The Folklore Rooms
JULY
4-7 – Gate To Southwell Festival, Nottinghamshire
