MARY READ play Eldritch folk: Dark, Atmospheric music centered around accordion, vocals, storytelling and percussion. They take inspiration from Neofolk, Traditional Swedish Fiddle tunes, Progressive Rock and many other genres. Their latest album, titled "Dunsany Dreaming," is presented here. The album contains eight tracks.

"Introduction" leads things off. It's a short one-minute opening song, with the sounds of birds chirping, accordion notes, and soft, dreamy vocals. The tom drum strikes are here and there. "The Fairy Child" features a similar sound. I feel like I am deep in a forest glen, just taking in the elements of nature. The accordion and the vocals provide a hopeful sound, but there is darkness lurking in the background.

"Songs from an Evil Wood I" opens with a gloomy feeling, along with some impending Doom. Ethereal vocals are all around, and the vocalist is quite talented at her craft. The vocals are also sung in a native language, though I am not sure what that is. "Songs from an Evil Wood II" begins in much of the same way as the other tracks. This song has a melancholy and despondent song. Again, she sings with a diversity in the way she delivers the vocals...at times short sort of hums, while at other times traditional singing.

"Night" is a bit shorter, and begins with a darkness lurking in the background. The accordion as the dominant instrument is an interesting choice. It sort of pigeon holes the band into one main direction. Without much else in the way of instruments, the songs sound a little thin to me. "Songs from an Evil Wood III" also opens with dark elements. From there, it really isn't much different than many of the other songs on the album, and that is a problem for me.

"Songs from an Evil Wood IV" is again, quite similar to most of the other songs. A strong vocalist does not an album make. This constant similarity is growing old fairly quickly. I mean, at least try to diversify the sound a little. "To Keats" closes the album. Again, you might as well substitute any other track here and you would not know the difference...to which I ask, what is the point?

Although this is not Metal, it wasn't too bad. The band pushes this dreamy sound throughout the album, and this is storytelling at its best. The lack of much in the way of sonority concerns me a little however, as does the repetitive nature of many of the songs. I really don't pick up on many Progressive elements, but that is neither here nor there. As I mentioned above, the vocalist here is the best part of the band, and album as a whole. The production is excellent as well.