Tuesday 27 July 2010

The Dufflefolks - New Waves @ Breaking More Waves

With a name like The Dufflefolks and song titles such as Ley Lines and Homegrown it would be very easy to expect this Hemel Hempstead based four-piece to be a bunch of bearded earthy Stonehenge loving hippies, with flower power emblems painted on their camper van. On top of this the group recently won a competition to play the Green Man Festival - an event known for its richly organic line-up - so the last thing you may expect would be for The Dufflefolks to wield keyboards, electronic beats and laptops. But they do, albeit in a very warm, woozy, folky way. Lead singer Daniel Davies has an ochre-coated vocal that resonates with a touch of soul and their instrumentation is just vibey and trancey enough to coax you into a better place, without ever becoming boring. Occasionally if the suspicion is aroused that things are getting a bit too chilled and sofa-bed comfy, the band also inject a more jittery and experimental sound, such as on their playfully stuttering laptop drama Two Hands Clapping.

Having bonded in an art room in sixth form a number of years ago, The Dufflefolks began making music that has evolved over a number of years, to reach its current more electronic state. For their live shows they have been known accustomed to sport animal hoodies made by one of the bands girlfriends. However this novelty element doesn’t take anything away from their honey-coated laidback tunes which have a grass-roots authenticity that combines with a touch of modern beauty. Highly lovely stuff. Listen to Homegrown below and see what we mean.

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