Reviews:

From Chain D.L.K.: (by Maurizio Pustianaz)

  Long time collaborators Tony Wakeford and Andrew King with GHOSTS are proposing something slightly different from the Sol Invictus guitar driven ballads scheme. Helped out by Kris Force (Violin, Voice), Renee Rosen (Violin), Guy Harries (Voice, Flute, Melodica), Autumn Grieve (Voice), M (Sounds, Electronics, Vibraphone, Marimba) and John Murphy (Drums) the duo did an album inspired by M.R. James writings (he is best remembered for his ghost stories in the classic 19th century Yuletide vein, which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature). Mixing literature elements, folk music and dark atmospheric semi-experimental solutions (see the creepy effect on "Casting the rune" where effected guitars duet with percussions and voices or the beautiful "The ash tree" where a cyclic melodic noise is the background to crossing spoken word vocals, female chants and military drumming) the combo succeed into refreshing the new-folk genre exploring new fields but keeping always as a reference point their English roots. Ballads and charming dark songs based on treated sounds/samples (as "Mr Mothersole" ) make of GHOSTS a great album that sounds balanced and always interesting (great choice to dare a little and using the ballad structure only one few tracks). (4.5/5)

From Medienkonverter: (by Claudia)

  Tony Wakeford kann's nicht lassen! Als ob der umtriebige Mr. „Sol Invictus“ nicht schon mit zahlreichen Nebenprojekten (u.a. Grey Force Wakeford, Trio Noir, L'Orchestre Noir, Hawthorn) ausgelastet wäre, hebt er nun gemeinsam mit Andrew King sowie ausgewählten „Familienmitgliedern“, u.a. Renee Rosen, Guy Harries, John Murphy (u.a. Knifeladder, SPK, Death in June, Shining Vril) oder Kris Force (Amber Asylum), ein weiteres namens The Triple Tree aus der Taufe, dessen Debut „Ghosts“ niemand geringerem als dem britischen Ghoststory-Autor M.R. James (1862-1936) gewidmet ist.

  Bereits das James-Zitat „Depend upon it! Some of these things are so, but we do not know the rules!“ auf der Rückseite des Booklets deutet die Marschrichtung an: Festgelegte Regeln kennt man hier nicht, und schon gar nicht die des Neofolk. Folglich sollte man sich der Scheibe exakt unter diesem Gesichtspunkt nähern, denn „Ghosts“ ist abgedreht, „Ghosts“ ist schaurig und „Ghosts“ verlangt dem Rezipienten zeitweise einiges an Toleranz ab. Sägende Geigenläufe, diffuse Feldaufnahmen, schräge Flöten-/Pfeiftöne, dumpfe Percussions sowie viele weitere Soundelemente, oft subtil disharmonisch zusammengefügt, erzeugen eine Atmosphäre, welche den Hörer direkt in James' gespenstische Szenarien zu führen vermag, in staubige Bibliotheken, schmutzige Hinterhöfe oder düstere Gemäuer des viktorianischen England. Die Stimmen von „Dr. Wakeford“ und „The Rev. King“ tun dazu ihr übriges. Während „The Mezzotint“ oder „Lost Hearts“ in schlichtem Erzählstil dargeboten werden, kommt „The Stalls“ als altertümlicher Kanon daher und „Black Crusade“ scheint von beiden direkt in einer Kaschemme der Londoner Docks eingesungen worden zu sein.

  Doch „Ghosts“ ist auch berückend schön. Neben dem durch gezupfte Gitarre und markante Männerstimmen fast erhaben wirkenden „Three Crowns“ sind es hauptsächlich jene Titel, in denen die beteiligten Damen Autumn Grieve, Kris Force oder Mercy Liao gesanglich zum Zuge kommen. Dabei kristallisiert sich vor allem das perlende Duett „The Malice of Inanimate Objects“ als Höhepunkt heraus. Aber selbst dieses ist von einer unheilsschwangeren Aura umgeben, da die Lieder ständig durch schrille Versatzstücke gebrochen werden, die sich entweder als Intros/Outros oder komplette Tracks einschleichen. Genau das richtige, um die Gruselstimmung immer wieder zu entfachen.

  Trotz alledem kommt jedoch eine typische Eigenschaft der Inselbewohner nicht zu kurz, der Humor. Im Booklet präsentieren sich die beiden Protagonisten nämlich launig, wie direkt aus einem der schauerlichen Romane entsprungen. Schrullige Fotos für ein ebenso schrulliges und gerade deshalb fesselndes Album. M.R. James wäre sicher stolz gewesen!

From Blow Up: (by Paolo Bertoni)

  Non poteva che titolarsi “Ghosts” un album dedicato a Montague Rhodes James e ai suoi celebri scritti. Interpreti come Tony Wakeford e Andrew King - frequente e pregiata anche la presenza della voce di Autumn Grieve - uniti nella sigla The Triple Tree hanno credenziali non meno che ottime per rievocare i fantastici racconti dello scrittore inglese e nulla hanno lasciato di intentato tanto da fingersi personaggi d’epoca nelle foto del digipack. Un briciolo di humour in un disco che in realtà tiene fede magistralmente ai suoi assunti, attraverso un susseguirsi di brani accompagnati senza soste dalla nebbia, puntualmente spettrali, conchiusi in un alone traversato da soprannaturali creature che vi soggiornano inquiete. Particolarmente densi di cimiteriali suggestioni, anche con l’ausilio di estratti dallo stesso James, sono frangenti quali Mrs. Mothersole, Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, The Ash Tree, There Was A Man Dwelt By A Churchyard, Casting The Runes, ad alternarsi con splendidi pezzi di tenebrosa essenzialità folk che rammentano istantaneamente quelle narrazioni spesso ambientate in minuscoli villaggi britannici, da Ghosts - Prologue, col violino di Kris Force di Amber Asylum, Black Crusade, severissima, la grandiosa The Stalls, cantata da King, con Three Crowns che è l’episodio più prossimo a Sol Invictus e superbi duetti che la Grieve ingaggia con Tony in The Malice Of Inanimate Objects ed Andrew in The Ghosts Of England. (8)

From Darkroom: (by Michele Viali)

  Presentato ufficialmente dalla Cold Spring nella compilation "John Barleycorn Reborn", uscita lo scorso anno, il progetto The Triple Tree è una collaborazione tra Tony Wakeford (per chi non lo ricordasse, già fondatore di Death In June e Sol Invictus, nonché di una sterminata lista di altri progetti) ed Andrew King, esperto studioso di musica tradizionale britannica; a loro si affiancano alcuni importanti collaboratori, su tutti John Murphy alle percussioni e Renee Rosen al violino. L'album è un omaggio al grande autore inglese Montague Rhode James, vissuto tra la seconda metà dell'800 e i primi del '900, reso celebre dai suoi racconti di fantasmi (di qui il titolo "Ghosts", dato al lavoro), ma anche grande esperto di storia medievale. I testi dei brani sono estratti dall'opera del narratore britannico, ma vengono spesso integrati dalle liriche di Wakeford e, in un solo caso ("Black Crusade"), da quelle di King. La musica, redatta per la quasi totalità dal creatore di Sol Invictus, è spesso un mezzo che commenta e accompagna i testi, facendo leva soprattutto su motivi folk sperimentali e, talvolta, su reminiscenze industrial-ambientali, collegando il risultato finale soprattutto all'opera di King (in particolare all'album "The Amfortas Wound"). La strumentazione utilizzata è assai vasta: dai classici basso, chitarra acustica, tastiere, flauto e violino, fino a misteriose percussioni, fischietti, cornamuse, field recordings ed ulteriori ritrovati elettronici; il tutto è segnato ovviamente dalle voci recitanti, con ampia prevalenza del tono stentoreo di King, sebbene non vada trascurato l'apporto della vocalist Autumn Grieve, che riesce a dare un colore soave a diversi pezzi. L'unico brano fortemente legato al vecchio stile di Wakeford, e forse il più accattivante di tutti, è "Three Crowns", già apparso nella compilation "John Barleycorn Reborn" e memore dell'esperienza dei Sol Invictus. Oltremodo impegnativo, "Ghosts" è un album di non facile ascolto, dato che la musica è in gran parte finalizzata a creare un substrato d'atmosfera divisa tra misteriose oscurità e ambientazioni antiche; di conseguenza è pressoché fondamentale seguire le parole dal libretto per lasciarsi trascinare nel vortice dei suoni. Il connubio testi-musica riesce a tratti alquanto bene, ma il lavoro nel complesso rimane poco immediato, ed alcune soluzioni sonore rischiano di fiaccare l'ascoltatore. Era lecito aspettarsi qualcosa di più da questi due importanti autori.

From Rock-A-Rolla: (by John S)

  Sol Invictus' Anthony Wakeford & Andrew King, together with a host of contributors including John Murphy of Death In June / SPK, Kris Force of Amber Asylum and 'ethereal folk singer' Autumn Grieve, pay homage to supernatural fiction writer M. R. James through the medium of medieval folk, neofolk and similar stylings. While fans of any of those artists will find plenty here to keep them intrigued, Ghosts may not be instantly appealing to ears not predisposed to such idiosyncrasies, and as a musical exploration of the ghost-themed books by a late 19th / early 20th century writer, it occupies a very niche musical sphere, even by folk standards. Very much an acquired taste.

From Alternativmusik: (by Marius Meyer)

   Die beiden verstehen sich gut. Das haben schon diverse gemeinsame Live-Auftritte in der Vergangenheit, wobei die Bühnendarbietung von Sol Invictus stark von der Unterstützung von Andrew King profitiert hat. Aus der gemeinsamen Arbeit von Tony Wakeford und Matt Howden ist neben der gemeinsamen Bühnenpräsenz nun unter dem Namen The Triple Tree auch ein gemeinsames Album entstanden, das als Konzept-Album dem britischen Dichter Montague Rhodes James gewidmet ist, also einem der ganz großen britischen Autor von Gruselgeschichten. Dementsprechend heißt das Album auch Ghosts und verbreitet eine sehr schaurige Atmosphäre.

  Um den Eindruck einer so genannten „Supergroup“ zu untermauern, kann man dazu noch erwähnen, dass neben den Protagonisten auch noch Musiker wie Renee Rosen (Sol Invictus), Kris Force (Amber Asylum) und John Murphy (SPK, Death In June) mit an der Entstehung dieses Werks beteiligt waren. Ein derartiges Namedropping beinhaltet zwar noch keine Aussage über die Qualität der Stücke, legt die Messlatte aber relativ hoch. Umso schöner, dass die Gruppe den Erwartungen gerecht werden kann und dabei ein unerwartetes Album auf die Beine gestellt hat. Mit dem bei den Namen wohl zu erwartenden Neofolk hat das Album nur insofern zu tun, dass es sehr mittelalterlich inspiriert ist, die Klänge an sich stellen aber eher thematisch orientierte Klanglandschaften dar.

  Das Konzept ist dabei eindeutig, musikalische Gruselgeschichten zu entwerfen, orientiert an Montague Rhodes James. Diese bestehen aus mittelalterlichen Klängen, die Titel für Titel Szenarien aus einer mittelalterlichen Welt entwerfen. Dies geschieht in einer Art und Weise, wie man sich das typische mittelalterliche Leben vorzustellen hat, allerdings so, dass dabei gruselige Szenen entstehen, die das Unheimliche charakterisieren. Die Instrumente sind dabei vielseitig: Violinen, Flöten, Marimba, elektronische Einsprengsel, Vibraphon und andere kommen zum Einsatz, dazu treten noch einige so genannte „Field recordings“, die der Authentizität sehr dienlich sind. Die Stimmen werden dabei gerade bei Andrew King in sehr erzählender Art und Weise eingesetzt (manchmal sogar komplett auf Stimme beschränkt), Tony Wakeford hingegen ist sowohl als Erzähler zu hören als auch mit einem an mittelalterliche Barden erinnernden Gesang. Dazu treten weibliche Gaststimmen, die eine schaurige Eingängigkeit bewirken.

  Während es mit großen Schritten auf den Jahresabschluss zugeht, haben Tony Wakeford und Andrew King unter dem Namen The Triple Tree mit Ghosts noch ein Album geschaffen, das so nicht zu erwarten war, dadurch aber umso mehr erfreut. Es zeigt, dass auch die alteingesessenen, etablierten Musiker des Genres noch für Überraschungen gut sind und sich längst nicht freiwillig zum alten Eisen zählen lassen. Abgerundet wird die Veröffentlichung durch das schöne Artwork im DigiPak und das Booklet, das auf der einen Seite die Gruselatmosphäre mit seinen vielen Bildern gut untermauern kann, auf der anderen Seite aber auch sowohl in den Bildern als auch in den Bild-Unterschriften ein gesundes Maß an Selbstironie zeigt. So begegnen bei den Bildern zum Beispiel Dr. Wakeford, The Rev. King und Count Ferrero alias „Mad Dog“ Murphy. Kurzum: Eine wirklich gute Idee auf sehr ansprechende Weise umgesetzt.

From Dagheisha: (by Roberto Michieletto)

  I fantasmi a cui fa riferimento il titolo del disco sono quelli che popolavano i racconti di Montague Rhodes James, scrittore britannico attivo tra la fine del ‘800 e l’inizio del ‘900, celebre per le sue narrazioni dove predominavano le presenze non tangibili, in quanto prive di materialità corporea, oltre che noto per gli studi sul Nuovo Testamento e rinomato medievalista. Per celebrare e rendere omaggio alla figura di MR James ha preso forma una nuova entità sonora, questa assolutamente concreta, che risponde al nome di The Triple Tree e che ha quali attori principali due “vecchi marpioni” provenienti dalla Terra d’Albione, ovvero Tony Wakeford (Death In June e Sol Invictus) e Andrew King (Sol Invictus e attivo da solista). Al fine di dare maggiore completezza e solidità al lavoro, che per la maggior parte trae ispirazione proprio dalle storie di MR James, hanno scelto di farsi supportare da altri personaggi di sicuro affidamento come Kris Force, Autumn Grieve, Guy Harries e John Murphy. Il disco si muove su diversi piani musicali, che hanno quale comune denominatore extra letterario la sovrapposizione e l’alternanza delle vocals, che intercalano con opportune scelte il cantato maschile e femminile oppure li abbinano con estrema cura, mettendo in essere quel processo di evocazione atmosferica e trasposizione dei testi di James con indubbia ispirazione e sentita partecipazione. La stessa che ha animato la scrittura delle composizioni, dal momento che il mescolarsi di strumenti e suoni ha portato alla definizione di trame espressive che sanno essere folk (psichedeliche, dark o neo), avantgarde, industriali (nell’accezione storica), drone minimaliste, medievali, neoclassiche e ritualistiche, a seconda delle poetiche da assecondare e delle sinistre ambientazioni da ricostruire. Per nulla scontato e molto ben dettagliato. Più che convincente.

From Mentenebre: (by Pedro Ortega)

  IEste árbol triple recoge bajo sus paraguas la obra conjunta de dos músicos de sobra ya conocidos por los amantes de la escena Neofolk: Tony Wakeford y Andrew King. Los dos han unido sus fuerzas para dar a luz un complejo trabajo el cual pasamos a diseccionar.

  Si recordáis la última reseña de Orchestra Noir, uno de los diversos grupos encabezados por Tony Wakeford, publicada aquí en Mentenebre, advertimos que tenía una referencia literaria muy clara: las aventuras de Sherlock Holmes. Pues bien, parece que en esta estela literaria se mantiene la producción musical de Wakeford. Para esta ocasión Wakeford y King han rescatado la obra de MR James (1862-1936), famoso escritor británico centrado en los relatos de fantasmas. De ahí que hayan puesto por título "Ghosts" a esta primera referencia.

  Una vez la temática aclarada pasemos a la música. Y en ella nos debemos detener en una artista de referencia invitada para la ocasión, se trata de Kris Force, de aquel memorable grupo Amber Asylum tan celebrado a finales de los ‘90, y que contribuye con su voz y con su violín en dos de los temas. También reseñable es la participación de John Murphy, incansable compañero de viaje de Douglas P., que no ha dudado en colaborar en esta ocasión con su viejo amigo Wakeford. Además de ellos también han contado con un buen número de músicos de los que no tengo referencia, pero que por lo que veremos a continuación pueden proceder algunos de la música contemporánea.

  Sí, el CD es muy complejo en lo tocante a estructura musical pues nos podemos encontrar con piezas como 'There was a Man Dwelt by a Churchyard' sin melodía, repleta de frases inquietantes que se repiten en eco, amén de otros sonidos no cadentes, que podría englobarse en la línea de deconstrucción musical propia de la música contemporánea, o con piezas claramente Neofolk como 'Black Crusade' o 'The Stalls', creadas a la medida de nuestro trovador favorito Andrew King, y que son a mi criterio las piezas más destacables del CD. También nos encontramos concesiones al heavenly voices en 'Ghosts – Prologue' o 'The Malice of Inanimate Objects'.

  La sensación que saco de la escucha de este álbum es un poco de cierto desasosiego, de falta de coherencia, aunque si lo que quieren transmitir es la inquietud que te produce la visión de un fantasma puede decirse que hasta casi lo consiguen. Bromas aparte, creo que se combinan demasiadas influencias de muy diversa raíz en una misma obra y que por tanto el resultado es un tanto desajustado y ecléctico. No me entusiasmó demasiado el CD dedicado a Sherlock Holmes y tampoco éste dedicado a MR James, pero al menos tenemos una referencia literaria interesante. Puede que de su lectura saquemos mayores placeres.

From Judas Kiss: (by Simon Collins)

  Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), better known as MR James, is widely regarded as the finest English writer of ghost stories, and a volume of his collected works occupies a permanent place on my bedside table, along with HP Lovecraft and the Sherlock Holmes stories, as ideal night-time reading material for when I'm too tired and/or drunk to contemplate anything more intellectually taxing. So I was very intrigued to hear of plans to release an album based on MR James’ stories, and the inclusion of one track, ‘Three Crowns’, on last year’s John Barleycorn Reborn folk compilation, really whetted my appetite. And finally, after some delays involving artwork and printing, Ghosts is here.

  The Triple Tree is a duo comprising Tony Wakeford and Andrew King. Tony Wakeford should need little introduction to most Judas Kiss readers, being one of the founding fathers of the neo-folk genre, firstly as a member of the original line-up of Death In June and, from 1987 onwards, with his own band, Sol Invictus. Andrew King is also now a member of Sol Invictus, as well as having released several albums of traditional English folk songs and industrial/folk crossovers, both as a solo artist and with other musicians, including members of Knifeladder, the American apocalyptic folk band Changes, and experimental electronics band Brown Sierra. For the creation of Ghosts, the first Triple Tree album, Andrew and Tony have assembled an impressive array of collaborators, many of them recruited from the ranks of various other projects with which they are involved, including singer and violinist Kris Force of Amber Asylum and Grey Force Wakeford, drummer and percussionist John Murphy of Knifeladder and a plethora of other bands, singer Mercy Liao, and several members of Sol Invictus and/or Orchestra Noir, namely Guy Harries, who sings and plays flute and melodica, Reeve Malka, who contributes vibraphone, marimba, keyboards and electronics, singer Autumn Grieve and violinist Renée Rosen.

  Most of the songs on Ghosts feature music by Tony Wakeford, although Andrew King wrote two songs and collaborated with Tony on several others. Tony Wakeford also wrote lyrics for five of the album’s 13 tracks, Andrew King wrote the lyrics of ‘Black Crusade’ and Autumn Grieve wrote the lyrics of ‘Mrs Mothersole’. All the other songs use texts taken directly from stories by MR James, and where the song title differs from the title of the story it relates to, the title of the story is given in brackets, so that the uninitiated and curious can go to the source material to gain a better understanding of these songs. All but three of the songs relate to specific MR James stories, the exceptions being ‘Ghosts – Prologue’, ‘The Malice Of Inanimate Objects’ and ‘The Ghosts Of England’.

  ‘Ghosts – Prologue’ opens the album, with field recordings of bird-song, bowed double bass and violin providing a lush yet sombre backing for Kris Force’s soprano vocals. ‘Three Crowns’ is based on the story ‘A Warning To The Curious’, and it opens with multi-tracked a cappella vocals from Andrew King, with an arrangement based on the folk balllad ‘Dives And Lazurus’. This is the only piece of traditional folk music on the album, which in fact tends much more towards neo-classical, although the blend of folk and classical music and instrumentation is reminiscent of mid-period Sol Invictus albums such as In A Garden Green, In The Rain and The Blade. ‘Three Crowns’ makes good use of both Andrew King’s and Tony Wakeford’s vocals, with a hypnotically looped keyboard phrase and ambient background atmospherics.

  ‘The Stalls’, based on ‘The Stalls Of Barchester Cathedral’, is very much a showcase for Andrew King, dominated as it is by his harmonium playing, jingle bells and vocals, which are again multi-tracked. It has the same kind of heavy droning, medieval sound as his 2003 album The Amfortas Wound, and the vocal melody sounds like a traditional folk tune, but was in fact composed by Andrew (who, of course, being an acknowledged authority on English folk music, is in a good position to produce a convincing pastiche).

  ‘The Ash-Tree’ is perhaps the most genuinely spooky and unnerving track on Ghosts, with the vocals from Andrew King consisting entirely of three obsessively repeated biblical verses. Although John Murphy is only credited with drums and percussion, I wonder if I can discern his hand in the brooding industrial ambient of this track, since the looped samples, snare drum rolls and fragmented chime melodies seem very much in the style of John’s solo project Shining Vril, or occult ambient projects such as Ain Soph and Zero Kama. After the baleful, threatening atmosphere of ‘The Ash-Tree’, ‘The Malice Of Inanimate Objects’ seems almost lightweight, with cymbals, flute, melodica and vibraphone recalling the jazz and swing influences evident in some more recent Sol Invictus albums.

  ‘There Was A Man Dwelt By A Churchyard’ offers a brief but delightfully horrific glimpse of supernatural revenge, evoked by Mercy Liao’s insistent, obsessive vocals. This actually reminded me of the classic album An Electric Storm by The White Noise, which I've always regarded as one of the creepiest pieces of music ever made. I won’t spoil the suspense by explaining what happens in this song or the story it’s based on, though I think of all the songs on Ghosts, it’s the one which makes least sense if you’re not familiar with the source material.

  ‘Lost Hearts’, though, makes perfect sense if you just listen to the words. This is virtually a spoken-word piece, recited by Andrew King, and it features the longest verbatim extract from MR James to be used on Ghosts, a letter of confession which essentially summarises the entire narrative of the story, a grim little tale of black magic, child sacrifice and cannibalism.

  ‘Black Crusade’, like ‘The Stalls’, is structured around Andrew King’s harmonium and vocals, with a lugubrious funeral drum underpinning its sinister, ritualistic invocation. It’s based on the story ‘Count Magnus’, which is one of my favourite MR James stories, and which, since it concerns the Satanic shenanigans of a decadent Swedish aristocrat, is heartily recommended to all black metal fans.

  ‘Casting The Runes’ is, relatively speaking, a disappointment. The original story features a character called Karswell, who’s clearly based on Aleister Crowley (or at least on Crowley’s sensationalised public image), and it served as the basis for the 1957 film Night Of The Demon, which is easily one of the best British horror films ever made. Oh, and it’s got runes in it. All in all, a very promising piece of source material, but The Triple Tree’s treatment of it is very oblique, using only a brief spoken phrase as the prelude to a densely textured ensemble piece of melodica, drums, ambient loops and layers of whispering. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t pack the punch of say, ‘The Ash-Tree’.

  Overall though, Ghosts is a triumph for all concerned. The concept is strong and original, the performances are excellent, and the album’s uncanny atmosphere will not easily be forgotten. In terms of Tony Wakeford’s work, this is the best music I've heard from him since the 2000 Sol Invictus album Hill Of Crosses (although admittedly I haven’t heard absolutely everything he’s done since then). Sometimes I wish Tony would stop doing quite so many different projects and concentrate more on Sol Invictus (there hasn’t been a new Sol album since 2005), but when the results are this good, you won’t hear me complaining, and this wouldn’t have worked as a Sol Invictus album at all. In terms of Andrew King, I infinitely prefer Ghosts to Thalassocracy, his recent collaboration with Brown Sierra, which I found very dour and indigestible.

  Ghosts is one of the best dark folk albums of the year, and it gets my vote as the best Cold Spring release of 2008. The album is handsomely packaged in a digipack sleeve with appropriately forbidding cover art by Andrew King, and a booklet with texts, lyrics and amusing photos of the band members camping it up in period costume. As the leaves wither and the gentle decay of autumn slips into the frosty harshness of winter, what better way to pass the long dark nights than by the fireside, with a snifter of brandy, a cigar – and the companionship of Ghosts?