The Diamond Family Archive – The Wanderer

The Diamond Family Archive – The Wanderer
Woodland Recordings 2009

Listen while reading:

Dark And Lonely Street (original by Eddie Cochran) (from The Wanderer)

Spirit In The Sky (original by: Norman Greenbaum) (from The Wanderer)

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After the reviews of WR001 and Spring by The Great Park it’s time for a new Common Folk Meadow favourite: The Diamond Family Archive. This is the project of Laurence Collyer you also know as one of the founders of Woodland Recordings.

At the moment Laurence is promoting his new record called A Big Black Dog which will be available soon in the Woodland Recordings shop. But for now I want to spend a few words on the release that was the one before The Big Black Dog. Its title is The Wanderer and it is a collection of covers recorded by Collyer in 2009. The CD itself comes in a wonderful handmade box which also includes hand drawn pages and photos as well as other little presents. The artwork of the release was done by Tobias Premper, a Berlin based artist, and it’s stunning.

TDFA’s music carries something in it that causes the tracks to float through time and space. As you listen to Dark And Lonely Street you can feel the the warmth Laurence puts into his interpretaions to pad them with life. The tracks seem to be organisms instead of cold sound waves – and this is an attribute you’ll find in every single track on The Wanderer whereby you easiely forget that you listen to a collection of cover songs. Everytime I listen to music from The Diamond Family Archive there is exactly one picture in my head: I see a group of people sitting around a glowing and crackeling campfire, the night is dark and the sky is clear so you can see the stars. But there is more – there is a strange and colorful shimmer. Due to the shimmer everything is lightened in uncommon colors and therefore the reality is strangly altered but still inviting and full of charming secrets.

I think this is what you can call the sound of Laurence Collyer – shimmering and mysterious but also familiar and well-known. The shimmering sound is created by the various use of the keyboards and the piano and the reverb on Laurence’s voice. But still there are the moments of familarity and I think those are produced by the warm sound of the acoustic guitar and the humanly lyrics. Simple situations are suddenly unique and you see them in a very special light where everything seems to glow in its own meaningful way.

Its a pitty I discovered The Diamond Family Archive not earlier because now some of the releases are unavailabal and sold out. But I’m also glad that Hlynur Gudjonsson told me about Stephen Burch, Woodland Recordings and Laurence Collyer at all. Without them, I think, my life would miss something really important. From now on this music will walk my paths with me.

Visit The Diamond Family Archive’s MySpace page and stop by at Woodland Recordings to order your copy of The Wanderer. This CD will surely be something special in your collection.