Search - Malinky :: Flower & Iron

Step-up for the fellas

S. Andres | 10/30/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The opening duet starts out rather slow, but turns into a beautifully harmonized love tune. Of course, the ever-lovely Fiona Hunter makes every song worth listening to anyway. Her lead on the second tune "The Broomfield Hill" is so much fun to listen to; her Scottish lilt makes me want to be Scottish. If you want to know how Robert Burns would have spoken, Malinky is the right band for you because some of the songs are in Scots English. To understand some of the songs, you might need to study the lyrics a bit. But they're just dandy to listen to anyway, knowing the words or not. The instrumentals are melodious and beautiful, especially when Fiona's solos come in. Back to highlighting some songs, the fifth track "Dark Horse on the Wind," is one of my two favorites, an Irish political song by Liam Weldon (partial to neither "side", much like Tommy Sands with "There Were Roses"). Here, Mark Dunlop cranks it up to 11. This is the most beautifully performed song by the guys on any of the Malinky albums. It seems to me that all of the male-sung songs are much better this time around. Though the song is long, you'd wish it was longer. The raw emotion in this song will make you weep, especially the crescendos and decrescendos. The wobbles, the roughness, the reality. This song is perfectly done. Fiona's cello and Mike's fiddle and Steve's Shruti box contribute even more to the beauty of the song. I'd say it could be done a capella or with music. My other favorite song is "Why Should I?" I often skip the prelude music to that song (track 10) about a minute, 6 seconds into it because I listen to the actual part of the song "Why Should I?" over and over, not that I don't like the preceding tune ("Janice Leask of Lerwick"). I think I've even got the Scots English accent down word by word (and this one is tough), and I've only had the album for two days. It's such a fun, catchy melody, but to a recurring theme throughout time: forcing a daughter to marry a man for power and wealth rather than for love, but the daughter stands up and stays with her one true love. Absolutely a fun song that will be in your head for days."