Songs of Love and Loss, by Sharron Kraus

Songs of Love and Loss

by Sharron Kraus

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Full Digital Discography

26

releases

Get all 26 Sharron Kraus releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Birdloom, K I N, Swift Wings, Welcome to Punkie Night, Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers - second pressing, Joy's Reflection is Sorrow, Time Takes Away, If You Put Out Your Hand, and 18 more. , and , .

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1.	Gallows Song / Gallows Hill 05:37	buy track
2.	The Frozen Lake 04:37	buy track
3.	The Tree of Knowledge 03:55	buy track
4.	Come To Me 03:05	buy track
5.	Song and Dance of the Bees 04:34	buy track
6.	The Pale Prisoner 04:30	buy track
7.	Impasse 06:16	buy track
8.	Song of the Hanged Man 05:30	buy track
9.	Angelica Caraway 03:58	buy track
10.	Still 03:16	buy track
11.	The Fastest Train 03:40	buy track
12.	Eternal Love 02:41	buy track
13.	Murder of Crows 02:30	buy track

about

Download comes with jpgs of original artwork and sleevenotes.

the second album from oxford's fabulous sharron kraus is a wonderful follow-up to the haunting debut 'beautiful twisted'. recorded with jeffrey alexander (iditarod / black forest / black sea) this moves from traditional folk (in a shirley collins, anne briggs style) to her own songs and enchants all the way. an immaculate album from a major new singer.
Rough Trade

Sharron Kraus' sophomore effort Songs of Love and Loss follows and diverges from the path she carved out on Beautiful Twisted. Echoes of Shirley & Dolly Collins flit about, but there is no derivative strain in the proceedings. Kraus' more plaintive voice is the perfect balance for her songs, which are laden with the kind of gloomy spirit that drives people to dwell on love's passing and absence rather than its gifts — or perhaps, as evidenced by Kraus' tomes here, this wondrously dark creativity is its gift in an offhanded way. The album was recorded in Oxford with her band that includes Colin Fletcher on bass, Jon Fletcher on banjo and guitar, and cellist and fiddle player Jane Griffiths as welll as a number of stalwart guests including Jeffrey Alexander and Jon Boden. Kraus is both heartbreakingly sweet and sad and deliciously grim, such as on the harrowing "Song of the Hanged Man," where tropes and stereotypes explode without flinching and move into a quiet but tense and cacophonous melody adorned with squeezebox, banjo, and shimmering, clanging steel noises that is delightfully unsettling. This is countered with the lonesome love ballad of abandonment and grief done to a perversely sprightly tempo and bright melody. "Impasse" is a testament to determination no matter the cost and its spare, minor-key manner calculates that cost as very high indeed. The album's opener, "Gallows Song," is a traditional Appalachian ballad that Kraus weds to her own response, "Gallows Hill," keeping its integrity while extrapolating its spirit and putting it into a new context. Songs of Love and Loss is another winner; it may not be as startling as its predecessor since listeners have a frame of reference, but in its textures, dynamics, and sheer minstrelsy, it is even stronger.
All Music Guide

credits

released March 26, 2004

Originally released on CD on Camera Obscura Records.

All songs written by Sharron Kraus, except 'Gallows Song', trad. arr. Sharron Kraus.

Sharron Kraus: vocals, guitar, banjo, clarinet, whistles, piano, hurdy gurdy, omnichord and percussion.
Jane Griffiths: fiddle on 2, 9, 13 and viola on 5.
Colin Fletcher: upright bass and acoustic bass.
Jon Fletcher: harmonica; guitar on 9, 11, 13; banjo on 1 and vocals
on 9.
Cameron Grote: drums on 11.
Jeffrey Alexander: electric guitar on 10, 11.
Jon Boden: fiddle on 3, 6, 8.
Giles Lewin: violin on 7.
William Schaff: drums on 1, 2, 5, 13.
Alec K. Redfearn: accordion on 9.

Recorded by Rich Haines, Jon Fletcher, Miriam Goldberg and Sharron Kraus.
Mixed by Jeffrey Alexander and Sharron Kraus.

Cover art by William Schaff.

license

about

Sharron Kraus Oxford, UK

Musical collaborator / songwriter / improviser.
'Pagan radiophonica meets medieval balladry’
'sensual spellcraft’
'Floating freaky fun of the highest order'
'oddly comforting avant-garde masterpiece'
Labels: Sunstone, Ghost Box, Clay Pipe, Feeding Tube, Cardinal Fuzz, Second Language ... more

discography

Birdloom

Mar 2023
K I N

Oct 2022
Swift Wings

May 2022
Welcome to Punkie Night

Oct 2021
Intermission

May 2020
Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers - second pressing

Aug 2019
Chanctonbury Rings

Jun 2019
Something Out of Nothing 7"

Sep 2018
Joy's Reflection is Sorrow

Jun 2018
Time Takes Away

Jul 2016
If You Put Out Your Hand

Apr 2016
Hen Llan Recordings

Feb 2016
Friends and Enemies; Lovers and Strangers

May 2015
Silver Servants

Jul 2014
Winter Songs / Caneuon y Gaeaf

Nov 2013
Music and Migration III

Sep 2013
Night Mare

Aug 2013
Pilgrim Chants & Pastoral Trails

Aug 2013
Yesterday Perhaps: Songs of the Kitchen Cynics

Jan 2013
Folk Songs II

Aug 2012
New Music for Old Instruments

Jan 2012
In the Rheidol Valley

Mar 2011
The Devil in Love: A Soundtrack to the 1772 Occult Novel

Jan 2011
The Woody Nightshade

Nov 2010
Rusalnaia Tour CD

Sep 2008
The Fox's Wedding

Mar 2008
Rusalnaia

Jan 2008
Travellers Two

Jan 2008
John Barleycorn Reborn

Aug 2007
Right Wantonly A-Mumming

Jun 2007
Singing At the Moon

Nov 2006
Leaves From Off the Tree

Oct 2006
Imaginational Anthems Volume 2

Jun 2006
The Black Dove

Mar 2006
The Honeymoon Music Compilation

May 2005
Songs for the Twins

Jan 2005
A Houseguest's Wish: Translations of Wire's Outdoor Miner

Nov 2004
Songs of Love and Loss

Mar 2004
Yuletide

Jan 2003
Beautiful Twisted

Mar 2002

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