There Were Wolves

This is the motherlode of the rich cultural seam that was mined in the early 00s around folktronica, “weird folk,” “nu folk,” psyche folk and so on. The Accidental is a collective put together by Stephen Cracknell — songwriter and sole steady member of The Memory Band — and Sam Genders, one of two main songwriters (though confusingly at this time not a performing member) of the brilliant Tunng. Add Hannah Caughlin of Fence Collective-affiliated Bicycle Thieves and the then brand new talent of singer songwriter Liam Bailey (a serial collaborator probably best known for singing Chase & Status‘s 2011 “Bind Faith”) as well as other musicians and you have not only a huge talent pool but a dizzying web of connections. The one album The Accidental made is a thing of low-key beauty throughout, Cracknell and Genders both at the top of their songwriting game, their styles merging together particular through a kind of crepuscular surrealism — the image of wolves drinking lager from plastic glasses will particularly stick with you — but also a heartfelt sense of affection for and celebration of life in all its bizarreness. Cracknell’s “Time & Space,” written for a newborn relative, stands out as a song for the ages, but honestly the whole album is an under appreciated classic.