Melbourne-based Charm of Finches balances their poignant folk creations on the crystalline edge of haunting harmonies and glimmering acoustics. If you have a weakness for either or are a fan of acts like SYBLING, here is another beguiling sibling duo whose music can soundtrack your next pensive rainy day. Although they don’t have any North American shows coming up the pair will be touring extensively in the U.K. this summer — check out the full list of those tour dates below.
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Sisters Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes remember their childhood home being filled with an international selection of folk songs: from the sounds of Americana and Appalachian mountain music to English and Celtic music. That led them to more contemporary acts like Sufjan Stevens and fellow sisterly duo First Aid Kit. The back catalog of the latter comprised the busking sets they performed — at only eight and eleven years old — outside their local veggie shop.
Having both learned how to play string instruments (violin and cello) at Steiner School and only a few years later they started writing songs as a pair. It was a school project that led to the creation of their 2014 debut EP Home, which they recorded at the urge and with the help of a friend. Two years later they unveiled their first album Staring at the Starry Ceiling which revealed them as the enchanting chamber folk newcomers they’d already spent a large part of their lives growing into.
From the lush tangle of resonant strings of “Deep Water” to the luminous harmonic twang plucked in “Sky Watching,” the album is a lesson in the depths and heights of emotion elicited by both their instruments and voices. Inspired by drives with their family across Kakadu National Park each song is irrevocably textured, through imagery and audio samples like rainfall, with nature. Other lush standouts on the LP are “Fossil in Stone” and “Truly Beauty.”
Since then they’ve released two more records — the far more minimalist Your Company (2019) and the decidedly radiant Wonderful Oblivion (2021) — and continue to play all the instruments heard therein themselves. Last year they shared of vision of things to come with the release of their single “Atlantis.” Its melody is a glacial flow of glimmering tones and darkly burbling string borne out of a month spent in Nova Scotia amongst a breathtaking frozen landscape.
When their fourth album arrives sometime this year it will also feature the single “Clean Cut,” a gallop of percussive drums catapulting their harmonies with newfound urgency. Written while on tour using a grand piano owned by a woman they stayed with in Oslo, Norway the song tenderly traces the need to sever emotional ties that have run their course. With the help of friends Charm of Finches directed a music video for “Clean Cut” — transforming a warehouse in their hometown into an ethereal recreation of a haunted doll factory.
Stay tuned for more music from Charm of Finches, you’re not going to want to miss the forthcoming indie-pop-flecked installment of their already magnificent folk catalog.
Words: Steven Ward
Visit Charm of Finches on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Charm of Finches tour
5/22 Glad Café, Glasgow
5/23-5/26 Orkney Folk Festival
6/6 St Mary’s, Chester
6/7 Live Room, Saltaire
6/8 The Greystones, Sheffield
6/9 The Hive, Shrewsbury
6/10 Temperance, Leamington Spa (sold out)
6/11 Kitchen Garden, Kings Heath
6/13 Exeter Phoenix, Exeter
6/14 Bristol Folkhouse, Bristol
6/17 Whitstable Sessions, Whitstable
6/18 The Fleece Inn Barn, Evesham
6/19 King’s Arm, Manchester
6/20 The Lexington, London
6/21 Ace Space, Newbury
6/22 Pound Arts, Corsham
6/23 The Folklore Rooms, Brighton
7/4-7/7 Gate To Southwell Festival, Nottinghamshire
8/9-8/10 The Magpies Festival, York
Watch the music video for “Clean Cut” the new single from Charm of Finches below!
