Smoke Fairies Emerge Out of the Darkness

One of our favorite British duos of these early years of the 21st century, Smoke Fairies drifted off the horizon for a few years after touring for their last proper studio album, 2014’s Smoke Fairies, and the subsequent Christmas-inspired release Wild Winter. “For a while we shifted our attentions elsewhere, waiting for the unfathomable desire to sing to entice us back in,” the group explained in an update to fans in late July. “The music was always going to pull us back in the end.”

And thus it has. Out January 31, Darkness Brings the Wonders Home finds Jessica Davies and Katherine Blamire in prime dark-folk form. Two advance tracks from the album, “Out of the Woods” (for which they shot a video) and “Disconnect,” have been released on a 300-copy limited edition picture disc through Rough Trade.

“Times of darkness are when people are often the most imaginative,” notes Davies, reflecting on the album’s title. “It helps you to see all the wonders of the world you hadn’t noticed before – the things you’ve been blind to because you’ve been on autopilot for so long.”

They’re touring England in early February and there are rumblings they’ll add some U.S. dates after that. Fingers crossed…