Avant-garde in nature and folk at its roots, ‘Babble’ swings between refuges of intimacy and profound aggression.

The debut long player from London nine-piece Bishopskin is a remarkable triumph, avant-garde in nature and folk at its roots. After lead singer, Tiger Nicholson, met co-founder and guitarist James Donovan at one of his former band’s gigs at the Windmill, they began writing together. Across a few years of writing around fifty songs in their spare time, the pair diligently selected eleven of those to create the tracklist that became ‘Babble’.

Endlessly engaging in the range of themes explored, and engrossing in its reworking of the music, religion and storytelling of bygone realms, the result is a breathtaking work of art. Integral to the band’s character is the range of other musical groups from which the band pool, which includes HMLTD, Gently Tender, Human Resources, Ex-Giant and The Romance of Baba Loco. Each band member brings their own musical experiences and attitudes to the table for a harmonious clash that feeds the album’s unpredictability.

Beginning with the single ‘Ave Maria’, Nicholson delicately opens the album with a “Good morning, my Lord.” His variations between spoken word and singing, with varying degrees of harshness, are reflected in the music, which is appropriately volatile. In these moments of musical overlap, the outfit really shines. Amid the chaos of this song, heavenly backing vocals present themselves tenderly in contrast to bellowing vocals from Nicholson, while soft fingerpicked guitars flow seamlessly across sprawling strings and raucous saxophone. The true beauty of a group like Bishopskin is the complex and meticulous layers and arrangements within, nine like-minded creative energies coming together to craft songs that evolve and progress through many different stages.

On the second track, ‘Mother’s Steel Bike,’ this is demonstrated in a jazzy and bluesy opening that gradually morphs into a dance breakdown around three quarters of the way in. It is a beautiful song which feels like a brooding storm with pockets of light shining through the dark clouds. The backing vocals are astounding, multi-layered and sprouting towards the storm, bringing pockets of light. The track spills over into ’MSB,’ which serves almost like an extended outro for its previous track, expanding on its exploratory work.

One of Bishopskin’s most beguiling components is the primal feeling that comes across in Nicholson’s voice, showcased with a deep bellow on Eastern European folk-inspired ‘Stella Splendens’ as well as his short intro on the fifth track ’Come Home’. Nicholson uses his voice in many different ways throughout ’Babble,’ even dabbling in scat at points. On ‘Born,’ he beautifully switches between candid spoken and velvet singing, which he is able to contrast with more roughly textured rasps.

When the group’s other singers, Tati Gutteridge and Tabitha Avanzato, take centre stage on tracks like ’Stella Splendens’, ‘Come Home’ and ‘Holy Mary,’ we are transported to a different feeling by the group. ’Stella Splendens,’ a reworking of a 14th century hymn feels playful, with Gutteridge delivering the vocals in Latin over a music that to the modern listener feels upbeat and surprisingly eccentric, even for a group as changeable as Bishopskin. ’Come Home’ exhibits choir-like vocals near its close, which invoke notions of purity, a palette cleanser midway through the album. ‘Holy Mary’ sees vocals passed back and forth between the group, Nicholson supplying the majority of the backing vocals as well as a short verse.

The album closes with ‘Jerusalem’, a warm, tender-hearted and deeply personal sounding song. The cries of Nicholson’s newly born baby are heard throughout, grounding the album in the present in spite of its constant recourse to past forms and practices. The child is seen also on the cover, held by Nicholson, who stands dressed in a biblically humble outfit beside a simple cross laid on the ground. For all of the academic loading of this album’s exploration of England’s past, of European folk music, of spirituality, the group are always able to invest their music with a relevant passion for us to feel in our guts. It is this that will long continue to give this work a powerful resonance.