There is a quiet yet original, and self-assured voice emerging out of the UK folk scene. In a world of noise and chaos where people all too often wear masks, Molly Dolphin couldn’t have come at a better time.
Stream: ‘Underground River’ – Molly Dolphin
Folk music has always been a refuge for artists who reject the commercial and superficial trappings of the more popular and accessible genres.
It’s a musical safe space where people celebrate both the beauty and ugliness of the human condition without the need to capitalize on trends or project idealized versions of themselves.
Molly Dolphin’s debut EP Underground River encapsulates everything that makes the solo folk singer and guitar set up so charming and sorely needed in the current cultural climate. Throughout the EP, her voice floats, soars and glides – not directed by a premeditated effort to appease general sensibilities – but in total alignment with the movements and stirrings of her soul. Following close in line with the folk tradition she takes much of her inspiration from, there is no overproduction or desire to over-embellish here, a decision that synchronizes perfectly with the organic, honest and unpretentious feel of her artistic vision.
You will find no formulaic structural decisions, show off songbird moments or flourishes that try to seduce the listener and convince them of her talent and ultimately her worthiness. Her harmonies and choruses are catchy without being consciously so. They don’t impose with any kind of intent, they simply are, which is quite a feat considering the serious subject matter that the EP revolves around.
Listening to Underground River, feels like eavesdropping on a private conversation with her and her guardian angel, or an attempt at deciphering journal entries coded in her own cryptic lexicon. There is something familiar and relatable to the EP, but also something mysterious, like a place you know you have visited but can’t remember anymore.
At its heart, Underground River is an unearthing, a digging into the fertile ground of Dolphin’s mind for hidden parts of her psyche and the life experiences that have shaped them.
It’s also a digging into her rich imagination for the words and the melodies in which to translate and make sense of those experiences. I could have said the record is an uncovering or unveiling of parts of herself but none of those words contain the word ‘earth’, and by extension, nature, which is another core inspiration behind the EP.
In the title track, “Underground River” Molly uses nature as a lens in which to present the life of her mind. In the song she weaves original and striking natural metaphors and images offering an alternative language in which to present the psyche as opposed to the sterile psychological terminology that often fails to convey the nuances and subtle shades which make up our often complex psychic lives. The ‘river’ in this case being the ‘unconscious mind’ and the song a lament at the lack of dialogue between her and it, and a longing to know where its waters came from and in which direction they will lead her.
The EP is not all natural metaphors and traditional hippy folk though, there are some seriously grown up moments and stark candid songwriting here, like when she says she’s “so sorry for guilting you” in “Worship,” a song about anxious attachment in a previous relationship, or when she says she’s “never been less certain” in regard to her own spiritual beliefs.
Underground River is only four songs, and you can tell they share the same musical DNA but there is also something distinctive and unique about each one – in terms of their arrangements, structure, and themes.
It makes sense because they were all made at different times of her life and in different states of consciousness. What they all possess, however, is an overriding emotional openness and vulnerability as well as an unmistakable voice – seraphic and at the same time all too flawed and human.
All in all, you can tell that this project has been just as life affirming for her as it is for the listener, and If this is the effect that Molly Dolphin can produce with her debut EP, I’m very excited to see what she can do with a full length record.
— —
:: stream/purchase Underground River here ::
:: connect with Molly Dolphin here ::
— —
— — — —
Connect to Molly Dolphin on Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© courtesy of the artist
© courtesy of the artist:: Stream Molly Dolphin ::
