Various Artists – Song, By Toad Split 12" (Vol 4)

Album Review by Gary Kaill | 21 Jun 2016
Album title: Split 12" Vol 4
Artist: Various Artists
Label: Song, By Toad Records
Release date: 4 Jul

More homespun gold from the DIY label that puts the labour into love. With Matthew Young having now moved to Leith, leaving behind the house that was key to the home recordings that make up much of the Song, By Toad back catalogue, this latest split release was recorded in his new place (though a neighbouring warehouse is being readied as a permanent replacement). But practicalities be damned: Vol 4 is, as ever, a savvy assemblage of like-minded souls and big-hearted collaboration.

Brendan Massei appears in his Viking Moses guise and Jon Rooney pitches up as Virgin of the Birds, and they're both the best kind of troubador: candid and compelling. But it's Supermoon and digitalanalogue who make off with the spoils, the former delivering a stirring cover of Adam Faucett's Day Drinker and the latter taking on Silver Mount Zion's The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes. Their originals are equally wondrous but they shepherd the work of others with impeccable care and admirable craft.

http://songbytoadrecords.bandcamp.com