The cover of this album depicts some striking Wicker Man style artwork but, a little disappointingly, what lies within is not particularly weird or unconventional.
Only the creepy Dear Ones, "sung into a banjo", takes us into a haunted nether world as it recounts the fate of a couple sinking hand in hand into a watery grave.
Otherwise, the acoustic songs of this "family duo", Dani Aubert and Ian Van Ornum, are gentle and homely having been recorded in "our little earthen backyard hut" in Ashland, Oregon.
Henny's Got Freckles (In The Summertime), the title of the sole instrumental, gives a flavor of the whimsical mindset they tap into.
The wholesome couple's primary focus is that of praising the virtues of the simple life; working the land and bonding with the natural world. This carries the strong implication that "woollen friends" are preferable to human ones.
"We shall not return to the land of cobblestone" is their defiant anti-urbanite stance on My Adventures With Jack As Sheepherders while in A Covered Tower Ivy Hid they recommend retreating to the woods well away from "the noise of men".
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The perfect life is thus depicted as being on a Land Where The Sugar Beets Grow or on a farm in Kentucky (Kings And Queens).
Playing instruments like clawhammer banjo, mandolin, hurdy gurdy and bouzouki they evoke a atmosphere far removed from the hustle and bustle of modern cities.
These are nice sentiments on the whole even though you know in your heart of hearts that their escapist world is impossibly idyllic.
Fellow Pynins' website
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