Based in British Columbia, Canada, The Southern Residents are new to our blog thanks to their debut album, Folk Signals.

By Graeme Smith

Born from a collaboration between Tom Taylor and Adrian Dolan, The Southern Residents are a seven-piece folk act which also features Scott White, Jeanne Tolmie, Shanti Bremer, Daniel Lapp, and David Hughes. Something of a British Columbia supergroup, they’ve all made a name for themselves in other acts, coming together to release this debut album.

Things get going in toe-tapping style thanks to the lively storytelling album opener Devyn Gale. There are some beautifully characterful vocal harmonies underpinned by strummed strings and pacy percussion. It’s one for lovers of classic folk.

And that classic sound runs right through the album’s eleven tracks, whether it’s of the slow and soulful variety in tracks like Between Love and Blood or upbeat and rousing like Green on Green.

A Mother’s Lament is the second single taken from the album and shows the peaceful and ponderous side of The Southern Residents’ sound. It’s an early highlight. As the album progresses, other highlights take the form of the swinging and philosophical Death Ain’t The End of Me, the heart-wrenching Echo Through My Empty Heart, and lingering album closer, By The Time Our Tears Have Dried.

Folk Signals is out now and you can give it a listen below.