Piccadilly Records
"Gorgeous album from this Manchester based group. Originally a duo they've now expanded to a four piece, which has given their sound more scope and allowed them to become more ambitious. The songs are intimate and lush, and hint at the likes of Eileen Rose, Giant Sand, The Czars, Laura Viers and even Mazzy Star. Despite the use of a wide range of instruments, including various guitars, harmonium, piano, banjo, Hammond, glockenspiel and mellotron, the whole album has a wonderfully sparse, delicate sound. From the stunningly simple opening track, 'Exit Wound' it weaves a gentle path through alt. folk and americana including their last single 'Lakeside Call' and a fantastic collaboration with Gabe Mckinnon - formerly of The Guthries, called 'Loss Leader'".
www.piccadillyrecords.com
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Manchester Music
"After a series of singles and a debut mini-album, 'Palisade' perhaps provides Anna Kashfi's long deserved opportunity to create a fulfilling and complete long player. There's already a trail of successful, almost heartbreaking singles and b-sides ('About A Boy', 'Whitworth Park', 'Lakeside Call', 'I Won't Go'), which lead us to Sian Webleys enigmatic, beautiful vocal style and James Youngjohns eloquent guitar, piano and string performances. Crackles and hisses have been added between tracks and the folk infused musings of 'Exit Wound' and 'Big Wave' give way to the ethereal 'About A Boy'. 'Ash Ballad' sounds as though it could have been recorded at any time during the last 40 years, yet the whole construction, melody and outlook is so thoroughly modern. As you move through each track, it's impossible not to fall in love with the sudsiding, dreamy melodies and compelling soundtrack. Each song sounds so complete and rounded that the Banjo jangles that chop away underneath the C&W of 'Loss Leader' seem perfect. The guest appearance of Gabe Mckinnon (The Guthries) just caps it off with some genuine low timbre, effective melodic mumblings. 'Train Of Thought' builds from it's stripped down acoustic picks, to a burgeoning, looping swell of atmospheric strings and distant effects. Anna Kashfi have mixed in folk, country and plenty of alternative influences to produce something rather special and you can't help thinking that if this was on a major label, then it'd be good enough for something like a Mercury. Stranger things have happened, not least to Ann Kashfi and this album is evidence enough that they're one of the most rawly talented, accomplished, original and essentially complete, outfits in Manchester right now." Album of the Week - 5/5 [JA]
www.manchestermusic.co.uk
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City Life
"Palisade is the second studio album from the manchester band named after Marlon Brando's first wife. 'I thought You might like to hear an advance copy', writes Rob from Stolenwine Records. 'I'm aware you know the band reasonably well.' With some surprise I reavise this to be true - I first saw Anna Kashfi when they were just Sian Webley and James Youngjohns releasing singles on their own Magic Jukebox label, before they moved to vinyl label Emma's House, aquired Sarah Kemp and Peter Martin, and signed to Stolenwine. Insiduously, their music has become part of the scene and my conciousness. If part of the reason for this is the sprightly melodies produced by the deceptively simple fingerpicked guitar of Youngjohns, reinforced by Kemp's atmospheric fiddle, the remainder is Webley's interpretation of her own lyrics. I've rarely heard a voice that so effectively combines sensuality with menace. But rough stuff and passion aren't really for Webley: what she does superlatively are the claustrophobia and comprimise that dog and drive the average relationship. She appreciates, somewhat ruefully, that 'it's not that you want me exactly but you wouldn't say no', and she may well 'pretend your deficiencies are what I lack'. From Matt Hill's 'Ash Ballad' to Webley's duet with Gabe Minnikin on 'Loss Leader', Palisade is an album refreshingly free of pretention. If Anna Kashfi had emerged from the Appalachians with songs of trailer trash, they'd be regulars on the Bob Harris playlist. As it is, Webley has expressed bewilderment that anyone even knows who they are. Palisade might just change all that. Just so long as success doesn't diminish the English understatement that informs those lovingly crafted lyrics." [Dave Tuxford]
www.citylife.co.uk
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