Hailing from Yorkshire, the trio that make up Lonan have already enjoyed success with their debut release 'Forever Has Flown'. Following that up with countless appearances on the festival circuit they now release their second full length album, 'Oddy Locks'.
A dedication to one of the band’s favourite parts of the Leeds canal, ‘Oddy Locks’ opens the album with a gentle jig. The ties of landscape and community are also explored in ‘Maerdy (The Last Pit in The Rhonda)’, featuring Evan Rhodri Davies on lead vocal it explores the effects of politics and pit closure on the local community.
The talent trio that make up Lonan are: Robin Timmis (Vocals, Guitar & Violin), Katy Ryder (Vocal, Flute, Guitar & Whistle) and Evan Rhodi Davies (Vocals, Mandolin and Mandola). Together they blend vocal harmonies and music exquisitely that is compelling is its refusal to shy away from sorrow while always holding a flicker of hope.
Katy Ryder’s dreamy vocal gives the band’s original composition ‘Sands of Dover’ an ethereal nature as it weaves a tale of forbidden love and broken family traditions. ‘Rothwell Debtors’ Prison’ is given a fresh make over by Robin Timmis, while it’s subject matter appears to be pertinent given the incarnation of many innocents under the current American administration.
Folk music, in it’s purest form, can capture the weight of history and the fleeting nature of memory and Lonan have successfully accomplished this with ‘Oddy Locks’ in a way that honours the past and is relevant to today.