Triflemore | Words from Notes

Haunting lo-fi folk

Two distant souls, one in small town America, the other in the Shetland Islands, find they've something in common musically and lyrically and make a CD without ever meeting in person--welcome to the cyber world of Susan Rhea and Owen Goudie. This is no amateur affair, the picking guitar style of Goudie is faultlessly relaxing and the ethereal vocals of Rhea literally take you into the clouds. Her voice, already compared to Joni Mitchell at her best, blends magically with the picked notes as if they are one, hence perhaps the title WORDS FROM NOTES. The album is a joy to relax to. If it could be faulted, then its uniformity is its partial undoing, so much so that it is hard to find a stand-out track, whilst similarly, it is hard to find a low point. If anything, the Jansch-like Stranger, which features Goudie on vocals, breaks the mould refreshingly. This minor trifling criticism apart, if you like a spot of classical guitar with a Celtic feel, then this is folk music for your soul. Try Illuminate and Goudfield for tasters, if they float your boat, then it's green for go.


-Maverick Magazine

Triflemore | Words from Notes

‘Triflemore’ is de groepsnaam die gekozen werd voor een polyvalent duo dat bestaat uit Susan Rhea en Owen Goudie. Hun debuutalbum “Words From Notes” bevat elf tracks die op een zeer traditionele wijze worden gezongen. Uniek aan dit duo is dat Susan Rhea in Missouri, Amerika woont en Owen Goudie op de Schotse ..Shetland Islands... Merkwaardig hierbij is dat beiden elkaar nog nooit in levende lijve hebben ontmoet maar muzikaal hadden ze van meet af aan wel gelijklopende ideeën die ze voor dit album hebben verzameld. Over de oceanen heen vonden deze twee muzikanten elkaar om dit unieke werkstuk af te leveren. De nummers werden allemaal apart opgenomen op de twee continenten en later samengevoegd in de studio. De muziek op deze cd bestaat uit traditionele folkliedjes vermengd met Keltische invloeden en klassiek zangwerk. Dat dit een unieke collectie liedjes oplevert dient derhalve wellicht niet meer gezegd te worden. Hele sobere akoestische gitaarklanken begeleiden de zweverige, soms ijle stem van Susan Rhea en laten het zangwerk vlotjes de overhand nemen in de songs. Het genre muziek dat we op “Words From Notes” te horen krijgen is zeker niet alledaags te noemen maar sluit een beetje aan bij de etherische klanken die we vroeger op cd’s van o.a. Enya te horen kregen. Er staan op het album ook geen echte uitschieters want de liedjes bevinden zich allemaal een beetje in dezelfde muzikale vijver. Soms komt Owen Goudie vocaal wat sterker uit de hoek zoals in “Stranger” maar het is vooral het engelengezang van Susan Rhea dat een imponerend stempel op dit album drukt. De meest commerciële nummers naar ons gevoelen zijn “Postcards” en “Illuminate”, samen met de eerste song op het album: “Goudfield”. We willen wel even meegeven dat je een onvoorwaardelijke liefhebber van dit genre muziek moet zijn om de hele cd uit te zitten. Dan kunnen we dit merkwaardige folkalbum zelf een kwaliteitslabel “rustgevend” meegeven. (valsam)


-Rootstime


English:
'Triflemore' is the bandname that was chosen for a polyvalent duo that exists out of Susan Rhea and Owen Goudie. Their debut album 'Words From Notes' contains eleven tracks that are sung in a very traditional way. Unique to this duo is that Susan Rhea lives in ..Missouri.., ..America.. and Owen Goudie is from the Scottish ..Shetland Islands... Worth mentioning is that, despite never actually having met each other in the flesh, they both shared similar musical ideas from the start, which they gathered for this album.Across the oceans, these two musicians found each other and delivered this unique piece of work. The tracks were all recorded seperately in the two continents and were put together in a studio. The music on this CD exists out of traditional folksongs mixed with Celtic influences and classical vocals. It goes without saying that this delivered a unique collection of songs. Very sober acousitic guitarsounds accompany the floaty, sometimes eerie voice of Susan Rhea and let the vocals smoothly take over in the songs. The genre of music that we get to hear on 'Words From Notes' can't be considered as everyday music but is similar to the etherial sounds we got to hear on albums from bands such as Enya. There are no songs on the album that particularly stand out as they all originated from the same musical pond. Sometimes Owen Goudie comes out with stronger vocals like in 'Stranger', but it's the angelic vocals of Susan Rhea that put an impressive stamp on this album. In our opinion, 'Postcards' and 'Illuminate', along with the first song on the album 'Goudfield', are the most commercial songs. We want to mention that you have to be an unconditional fan of this style of music to be able to appreciate the entire album. Then we will be able to give this peculiar folkalbum a 'peaceful' quality label. (valsam)

Triflemore | Words from Notes

Triflemore blends the guitar and voice into one beautiful sound on their latest disc, “Words From Notes.” The talented duo is comprised of singer Susan Rhea, who hails from small-town America, and guitarist Owen Goudie from the Shetland Islands. Together, their collaborative talents combine to produce a touching CD, filled with throwback sounds of folk singers from the late 1960’s. Rhea’s voice is reminiscent of Joni Mitchell in all the best ways imaginable. Her voice is wonderful to hear and her eloquent tones can be heard on songs like “Goudfield” and “Perfect.” Not to go unnoticed, Goudie’s finger style guitar work is also exceptional in its own right. You can tell he has crafted his melodies around Rhea’s vocals and intertwines them so one does not overshadow the other. A highlight of his playing can be heard on “Signal.” “Words From Notes” is a perfect fit for any Joni Mitchell or Emmylou Harris fan and could very well be used to paint the soundtrack of all of our lives.

-Radioindy