FERN KNIGHT, EX REVERIE, IN GOWAN RING, AH HOLLY FAM’LY
(Someday Lounge, 125 NW 5th) Led by singer/guitarist Margaret Wienk, Philadelphia’s Fern Knight make disjointed, stark, largely acoustic music, with a sensibility rooted in centuries-old folk and classical traditions. Contemporaries of Marissa Nadler and Espers (whose Greg Weeks recorded their recent self-titled album, the group’s third), Fern Knight’s music eschews psychedelia for a more introverted, baroque sensibility. Wienk’s vocals can shift into a haunting register, and the band’s restraint can turn quickly into something piercing and furious. This is a group capable of lulling you into a reverent pastoral mode, and just as quickly jolting you to attention via a few well-placed electric notes. TC

MP3:
Fern Knight - Bemused