Band: The Magpie Arc | Album: Gil Brenton | Genre: Progressive rock, British folk | Year: 2025
From: UK | Label: Independent
For fans of: Strawbs, Comus, Jethro Tull, Steeleye Span
The Magpie Arc is a British quartet that spins traditional folk songs of the British Isles into hard-hitting, proggy folk rock, and Gil Brenton is their second full-length album. Where many bands I describe as folk rock are primarily rock acts with some folk influences, this band is the inverse. Their vocal style and instrumentalism belie a deep love of British folk music, and that helps give their music a character that stands out from other acts in a similar space.
Gil Brenton opens with its epic 13-minute title track, their take on an English folk song. The opening guitar line is rather heavy and impactful, lending a sense of grandiosity right out of the gate. With the first verse, warm and mellow British folk music takes center stage. These two competing strains interpolate, effortlessly merging and separating. Different themes emerge and recede, mutating and merging, to allow this song to have impressive internal variance without coming off as disjointed. Vocalist Nancy Kerr provides a strong performance, imbuing this piece with drama and gravity. Her fiddle also does a great job at providing contrast to the crunchy guitars and powerful drumming.
“The Burning of Auchindoun” is a traditional Scottish folk song, and the vocalist’s strong brogue (it might even be in Scots, but the line between Scots and English can often be fuzzy) drives that geographic connection home. It’s another muscular, heavy bit of folk rock. Significant alt-rock influences are evident in the production and guitar work. There’s some great soloing in the midsection, and the fiddle really helps this song soar.
I couldn’t find which traditional song “The Queen of the Fairies” is based on, due to the somewhat generic nature of its title, but I’m fairly confident it is based on one, considering the rest of the record. This piece reels in some of the heavier elements of the first two songs, here opting instead for sparer post-punk tones. Guitars jitter and ring out, and fiddle again adds richness and texturation variation. The atmosphere is great on this cut, lending it a fittingly fanciful feel.
“The Ballad of Rebecca Young” (a re-working of “The Female Rambling Sailor”) has a steady, forward momentum, evoking the title character’s overseas journeys. The verses are relatively light, paired with more impactful choruses.
“Pretty Peggy O” (a traditional folk song previously covered by both Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead) is fun but probably my least favorite song on the album. It reminds me of certain strains of ‘80s pop rock that I’m not super fond of, specifically big music. There are some strong instrumental passages, though, where the band plays around with interesting textures and the bass stands out a bit more. The last couple minutes tone things down and provide a floating air for some fun, interweaving guitar lines.
The opening of “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is slow and gloomy. The opening guitar line reminds me a lot of Haken’s “Nocturnal Conspiracy”, but it’s a simple enough passage, I’m willing to chalk that up to coincidence. The droning backing is moody, and some rather Floydian guitar lines punctuate the verses. The vocals grow more impassioned through this song’s runtime, matching the increased intensity of the instrumental backing.
The album ends on “The Mantle”, which features a pair of guest musicians: Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span on backing vocals and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull on flute. The rhythm is bouncy and energetic, and the flute adds an unmistakably Tull-ish character. The band leans into some of their most explicitly proggy influences here, with some flashy soloing and inventive playing. It’s a strong way to close the record out.
Gil Brenton is an engaging and creative record. The Magpie Arc shows their love of British folk music throughout this record by making centuries-old songs sound fresh and exciting. The album is bookended by its two strongest songs, but everything in between is solid as well. Gil Brenton is a fantastic marriage of British folk and rock music.
Score: 84/100
The Elite Extremophile 