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AltSounds > Reviews | Dirty Mavis - Oak Tree Lament (Did you stop the HS2?) [Single]

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Dirty Mavis - Oak Tree Lament (Did you stop the HS2?) [Single]

Dirty Mavis - Oak Tree Lament (Did you stop the HS2?) [Single] Spread the Social Love:

Dirty Mavis - Oak Tree Lament (Did you stop the HS2?) [Single]

Stop HS2

by , and has been Read 1603 times.
Last Edited by: Ffion Davies December 8th, 2011.
Music and politics go together like cheese and ham. Both are credible without one another, but when you combine the two, things get interesting.

There have been huge political stories this past year; the Euro-zone Crisis, the phone-hacking scandal, the Royal wedding. None of these events have been supported by an attempt at the Christmas number 1. Dirty Mavis have shown their support to end the plans for HS2, a proposed link between London Euston and Birmingham Airport. It is set to cost £17bn and will be ploughing through the countryside in a bid to cut less than 15 minutes off your journey.
the song is unique enough (and not sung by an X-Factor graduate)... It may make the Christmas charts interesting
‘Oak Tree Lament (Did you stop the HS2?)’ opens to the corny plucking of an acoustic guitar but when the vocal enters, the seriousness of the band is clear. The timbre of Martin Davis’ voice is deep enough to create a rumble greater than any train and fits the bill of a traditional English folk singer.

The video is weak, and the production costs were kept low as it was likely made with donations. The group look uncomfortable and no one has been given any direction in any way whatsoever.

WATCH! Dirty Mavis - Oak Tree Lament (Stop the HS2)


For a band that will likely live off the success of this one song for the rest of their living days, none of these points matter. The real focus is the message.

This is a campaign that will be controversial for quite some time and the release of this single on December 19th will undoubtedly add fuel to the fire but as a song, it stands up. During any other week, it would get nowhere in the chart; it’s not a popular genre, the lyrics appeal to a small amount of people and if truth be told, there are better folk songs out there. In the run up to Christmas, this may stand a chance.

A popular trend at the moment is lining up against the government, the song is also unique enough (and not sung by an X-Factor graduate) that it may peak interest in a younger, buying generation. It may make the Christmas charts interesting.

You can listen to ‘Oak Tree Lament’ and find instructions for a pre-order download on the Dirty Mavis website.

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