On "Between The Fool & The Magician" Crooked Mouth (Ian Campbell, also of Romowe Rikoito) presents their well-known eclectic neo/folk style, honed and imported from the mountains and coastal forests of Western Canada to the Baltic world, in a contemporary old-world context. Guitar and voice are aided by a myriad of instruments including accordion, harmonium, shruti box, melodium, jaw-harp, and even a birch vanta.

The narrative twists between anthemic expressions of gruelling outer circumstances represented by a hard stone city, contrasting with pastoral ballads representing a secret inner world serving as a refuge from outer turmoil, with an added dose of psychedelic misrule. As the sun sets on a European city, an alchemical process begins to take place in the space of one night. A threshold is passed under a city gate, the Blackened Mother appears, an outer journey turns inward … and then spirals outward again.

Joining Crooked Mouth on this journey is a cast of international wyrd-folk characters: Adam Ormes (of Romowe Rikoito on sacred percussion, voice), Æmber (cello, voice), Art Abscons (guitar), and Lithuanian guests: Agota Zdanavičiūtė (of Sen Svaja on kanklės), and Virginija Pievos (of Pievos, on flute, lumzdėlis and hurdy-gurdy).

Mastered by Nathaniel Ritter (Knit Her, Wreathes). Second pressing. Ltd x 150 copies on black vinyl with printed inner sleeve, with lyrics and more.