The Story is an English

psychedelic folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Chara ...

duo comprising the former

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

member Martin Welham and his son Tom Welham. They write and record melodic songs that range from

psychedelic pop Psychedelic pop (or acid pop) is pop music that contains musical characteristics associated with psychedelic music. Developing in the late 1960s, elements included " trippy" features such as fuzz guitars, tape manipulation, backwards recording, ...

stream-of-consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...

folk and play an array of predominantly acoustic instruments as a backdrop to their blend of vocal harmonies.

Biography

Martin Welham was part of the influential 1960s acid folk trio Forest. In the early 2000s, thirty years after Forest disbanded, he formed the

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

based band The Story with his son Tom and returned to recording music. Their sound has echoes of Martin's earlier work with authentic psychedelic songwriting at its core. The band's first release was a 2005 vinyl split album, ''The Dawn Is Crowned'', with Californian

freak folk Psychedelic folk (sometimes acid folk or freak folk) is a loosely defined form of psychedelia that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of folk, but adds musical elements common to psychedelic music. Charac ...

band Whysp on Good Village Records. The Story's side has five broadly acoustic tracks that blend esoteric, dark imagery with powerful vocal harmonies resulting in an unattributable psychedelic air. In 2006, the band released its first full-length album, ''Tale Spin'', on Sunbeam Records, the first contemporary artists released by the label. This

album features acoustic guitars, keyboards and light percussion combined with airy harmony vocals and wistful melodies. A follow-up album, ''Arcane Rising'', was released in 2007. A stream of consciousness conceptual

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice ...

, the album is made up of improvised melodies and acoustic guitar backings augmented by flutes, melody harp, harmonica and hand percussion. Lyrically, the album celebrates life and nature through the changing seasons while questioning

religious doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...

s and humankind's

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

footprint. Also in 2007, The Story's sinister track "The Wicker Man" appeared on the dark folk compilation album ''John Barleycorn Reborn'' on

Cold Spring Records Cold Spring is an independent record label based in Northamptonshire, England, specialising in "all forms of extreme media, but particularly: dark ambient, neo-classical/neo-folk, orchestral, power electronics/noise, Japanese noise, minimal, ...

. The band's acclaimed third full-length album, ''Joy Ride on Memory Lane'', was released in 2011 by Rainbow Quartz Records under the band name The Story UK. This confident, hook-laden psychedelic album has a rockier sound than previous releases while continuing to incorporate the duo's warm harmonies and highly melodic aesthetic. Cold Spring Records' 2011 dark folk compilation album, ''John Barleycorn Reborn: Rebirth'', included The Story's ritualistic celebration piece "All Hallow's Eve". In 2018, the psychedelic folk rock release, ''The Dawn is Crowned with Opium Tears'', brought together the first ever digital release of the band's 2005 vinyl LP, with five esoteric, darkly oblique, progressive psychedelic rock songs.

Discography

Split album

''The Dawn Is Crowned''

Studio albums

''Tale Spin''

''Arcane Rising''

''Joy Ride on Memory Lane''

''The Dawn is Crowned with Opium Tears''

Reception

''The Dawn Is Crowned''

The Story's contribution to the split vinyl LP ''The Dawn Is Crowned'' was described by Doug Mosurak of ''Dusted'' as "panoptic in scope and fairly timeless, interjecting frills and fantasy elements into solid, warm musicianship", while ''The Unbroken Circles Mark Coyle described the song "Road To Ascension" as "a masterpiece of any era" and the vocal harmonies as "incredible with an un-attributable psychedelic air".

''Tale Spin''

Jeff Penczak of ''Foxy Digitalis'' described ''Tale Spin'' as "a whistful collection of melodic folk pop full of gorgeous harmonies" while ''Psychedelic Folks Gerald Van Waes noted the "warm, delicate beautiful harmony vocals, simple guitars and percussion" making it "a beautiful album and another winner for true and truthful acid folk collectors".

''Joy Ride on Memory Lane''

''Joy Ride on Memory Lane'' received positive reviews. For ''PopMatters'', Stephen Haag described the album as "Utterly Charming" and noted that the duo "definitely have near-encyclopedic knowledge of the Britfolk/psych genre". ''Shindig!'' magazine's Pat Curran described the songs as "highly melodic, warm and inviting" and commented that the album "bears repeated listening and comes highly recommended". ''Uncut'' magazine's Rob Young said the father and son "make a hugely sympathetic pairing" and that the album "combines the best elements of Brit folk-rock's heyday".

The TimeLarks

In 2011, Martin and Tom began performing as part of the folk trio The TimeLarks and appeared at the 2012

International Pop Overthrow The International Pop Overthrow (often referred to as simply The IPO) is an American-originated music festival, devoted to power pop music and related genres. The festival is dedicated to bring classic pop music to the public, and is run by CEO an ...

festival at the

Cavern Club The Cavern Club is a nightclub on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England. The Cavern Club opened in 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 50s and early 1960s. The club became closely assoc ...

in Liverpool. In 2016, they released two progressive acoustic folk albums, ''Wheel of Stone'' and ''Grain of Light''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Story, The Psychedelic folk groups Family musical groups British folk rock groups