Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound Of British & Irish Folk 1966-1975: 3CD Clamshell Boxset

Like Elflands shimmering tide-like border in Lord Dunsanys fantasy classic, a mystic world of sacrificial grain gods, green men, fertility rites, and sanctuary stones exists just beneath the surface of the contemporary British Isles. A mere century or two of modernity isnt enough to fully dim wild Albions millennia of legends and magical lore. By the early 1960s, linchpins of Englands second folk revival like Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd had helped renew public interest in traditional song, but as the decade rolled into its second half, the emerging counterculture began to face off against folks old guard, bringing psychedelia, electricity, and a metaphysical curiosity into the mix. Grapefruit Records excellent 2015 anthology Dust on the Nettles went a long way in exploring this cosmic folk-rock collision, and five years later, they offer up a welcome sequel in Sumer Is Icumen In: The Pagan Sound of British & Irish Folk 1966-1975. Like its predecessor, this set celebrates both the scenes key players and its distant outliers, but shifts its focus to the eerier, more spiritual side of the folk-rock movement. Fans of the 1973 cult classic folk-horror film The Wicker Man, take note. While much-celebrated stalwarts (Fairport Convention, Pentangle, etc.) get their proper due, its names like Oberon, Meic Stevens, and Jan Dukes de Grey that really conjure up the ancient mists. Enchanted recorders, frame drums, and dulcimers mingled with surreal backwards tape effects and rumbling organ drones as folk music became more progressive through the filter of artists like Comus, Dr. Strangely Strange, and Third Ear Band. Even some of the starker-sounding traditionalists like Archie Fisher and Anne Briggs (the latters previously unreleased Summers In is a standout) appear here with buzzing sitars and electric backing bands. Its as if by tapping into the islands ancient currents, these artists found a freedom of expression to both celebrate and liberate old mythologies while building new ones for future generations. The results are quite magical and still captivating a half-century later. ~ Timothy Monger