The Blood of My Lady

The latest in Michael Laird's series of darkly compelling explorations on extremities of sound within a putatively "mainstream" goth-folk approach turns up new ground with The Blood of My Lady, recorded after Laird's move to a rural location following the dissolution of the earlier version of the group. It's not quite the Bon Iver story — for which we can all be thankful — since the focus on hushed acoustic performances in many ways defined Unto Ashes to start with; if the name of the band is now more a flag of convenience, the quality of Laird's work remains strong. Framed by the two-part title track (plus a concluding variant), The Blood of My Lady reflects a turn towards the personal — and heavily fraught — that had always been there in earlier work, but here seems less couched in larger political or mystical terms and more with an edge of personal sorrow and anger, as on songs like "I Will Lead You Down." Laird's one-man arrangement skills throughout are quite remarkable — the flow of instrumentation on songs like "Who Has Seen the Wind," from dulcimers to bells to much more, suggests ensemble work rather than the basic breakdown of Laird plus the occasional guest. Meantime, between the German-language declamations on "Echos in Den Wald" — Laird's ear for intriguing covers remains — and a cello-led interpretation of "The Tomb of Your Remains," a ninth-century melody, there's a striking take on Depeche Mode's "Fly on the Windscreen" where the electronic glower and melodrama of the original become an acoustic-guitar led chant that sounds as old as the hills.