ALBUM REVIEW: Sorrows – Cwfen
Few bands can create an album so deeply emotive that it transcends the confines of its recording and is utterly transportive. Fewer still can do it with their debut. Emerging Scottish quartet CWFEN however, have done exactly that. With their first album Sorrows, they have conjured a detailed and compelling collection of songs that weave together to form a broad soundscape within which to get utterly lost. From their initial single Reliks from the tail end of last year, they made a mark with a hook-based rocker. Latest offering Wolfsbane is an anthemic rabble rouser. A statement of defiant intent. Yet these only scratch the surface of what the four-piece are capable of. Sorrows is a glimpse into something much more evocative.
With beguiling subtlety, the album opens with the first of three pieces bearing the title of Fragment. Eerie in its delivery, it sets the prime backdrop for the album. Bodies opens out like an expansive glade and rewards with a beautiful wave of doom laced sonic mastery. There is a mystery to CWFEN (not just their name, it’s pronounced Coven by the way), and they are skilled at the craft of songwriting to weave an intoxicating pattern. The music is accessible yet there are hints at hidden depths that are invitingly close. An undercurrent of fragile menace is layered to what is on first listen a very well executed yet straightforward slice of modern-day doom.
One of the many aspects that is utterly engrossing on this record is the vocals. Agnes strikes a perfect balance between the delicate vulnerability expressed in many of the lyrics. This is starkly contrasted by her efforts ability to offer a barbed rage when the mood calls for it. With an adept ability and consummate grasp of the craft the vocals are delivered with gut wrenching emotion. Furthermore, on tracks such as Whispers and Penance, the layering technique of the vocals is mesmerising. The band have developed a choral like quality rather than simple lead and backing vocals lends an ethereal tone to the whole vocal take throughout. It’s captivating and perfectly suited to the doom gaze, dreamlike state that CWFEN have generated.
What is evident is that CWFEN as a group of musicians are extremely passionate about what they do. The musicianship and lyricism are evident of that. So too is the production. The vocals as mentioned above are terrific. However, at every point there’s highlights of how the four-piece have worked closely together and with their engineer to produce a sound that is in all cases bewitching. From the peppered moments of the Fragment pieces strategically placed to build on the soundscape. To the broader strokes allowing each instrument and middle eight to be absorbed with clarity.
It is nigh on impossible to not get swept up in the raw beauty of Embers because of this. Despite all of the technical prowess that’s gone into this album, it’s not overworked or diluted. It’s as if the band themselves are there. Sorrows ensnares with every moment like an elegant and captivating siren song, enchanting with a portent of doom underpinning the top notes.
Rating: 9/10
Sorrows is set for release on May 30th via New Heavy Sounds.
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