Mercy of the Crane Folk

Album review

If you went to the local Renaissance Faire and, instead of strolling minstrels playing lutes and recorders, you were entertained by an indie rock band with a folkie bent and a strong psychedelic undertow, there's a good chance they would look and sound something like Immaterial Possession. The group is given to fanciful costumes and mystical thinking, not to mention song titles like "Medieval Jig," "Birth of Queen Croaker," and "To the Fete." Immaterial Possession have clearly put nearly as much thinking into image and concept as their sound, but that's not to say they've given their music short shrift, and their sophomore album, 2023's Mercy of the Crane Folk, is not without its genuine charms. There's an engaging sense of mystery to their melodies, and the vocals from Madeline Polites and Cooper Holmes bring out the inscrutable drama and imagery in their lyrics. The standouts among the instrumentalists are percussionist John Spiegel, who seems equally comfortable on a trap kit as on hand percussion, and is tuned in to the shifting demands of these songs, and Kiran Fernandes, whose keyboards keep the music firmly rooted while adding a tone of playful danger; the woodwinds and flute fit this band's aural signature like a glove. It wouldn't be hard to call Immaterial Possession pretentious if their hearts weren't in this so completely -- they've conjured a musical world of their own that they're happy to call home, and on numbers like "Siren's Tunnel," "Ancient Mouth," and the title cut, their trippy sonic voyages go someplace worth visiting, even if they sometimes take longer to get there than is advisable. Mercy of the Crane Folk is the sort of album that's so heavily invested in its own idiosyncratic mindset that in most cases, you'll either fall in love with it or be left cold, but the ideas are clever, and the execution is admirable, making it well worthy of investigation.

© Mark Deming /TiVo