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Reb Fountain - Album Review: Little Arrows

05 Sep 2017 // A review by Corinne Rutherford

My hope is that I can do this album justice and give it the respect it deserves. This has been an emotional journey for Reb FountainLittle Arrows is an album that she, Sam Prebble and Dylan Storey created, sadly Sam passed away before its completion. This is an album of extreme beauty that honours not only Sam but the band as a whole, I am very lucky to have the chance to review Little Arrows

I've been waiting to share this project with you for 6 years now. Seems crazy that so much time has passed. But time is nothing in comparison to losing someone you love – I’d wait another 6 more if it meant bringing Sam back. But he lives in our hearts now … plus he’d kick my ass if I didn’t finish what we started.”

Reb Fountain has been described as New Zealand’s best kept secret, the lady from Christchurch with a mesmerizing voice who performs unforgettable gigs. This was the first time I had heard her music and straight away knew that what I heard was breathtakingly beautiful, so it came as no surprise that Little Arrows followed suit.

Poetic lyric writing weaving a path between dark and light, radiating incredible warmth and a captivating sound coming from the heart and souls of each band member. Little Arrows was created by the three of them Sam on violin and mandolin, Dylan on electric guitar and Reb who wrote the songs.

This is an album of reflection and celebration with a touch of sadness which was started over three years ago. To describe the sound this band produces it would be almost eerie, a form of haunting gypsy folk music with an Americana vibe. Sam’s violin playing gracefully enhancing each track with its presence.

Evocative and poignant, completing this album is perhaps a cathartic release, paving the way for new music, an unfinished musical project which needed to be brought out into the light and shared with the world.

Track one kicks off the album with Down In The Valley, it is a beautiful dialogue of reflection, which is a common theme throughout each of the 10 tracks and is a wonderful taste of what is to follow. There are twists and turns throughout the album, with little tantalising surprises popping up here and there, such as the rich Nick Cave like vocals of Steve Able featuring on Heart Of Me and the incredibly intuitive and tender lyrics of The Devine “You know hurt creatures tend to hurt other creatures especially the ones that we love”.

If I were to just whisper the name of one more song from Little Arrows it is Slave, once heard hard to forget. Powerful, beautiful and honest, a tale about when you have been broken but you still have the will to go on because it is the only road you know. Heartfelt lyrics and visuals filmed amidst the power of the elements and directed by Reb's Daughter Lola Fountain. This is Reb's favourite and last song she performed live with Sam Prebble “I’ll never miss you like the sight of the road, free to be a slave to you”.

With the help of Simon Gooding, Reb Fountain and Dylan Storey have produced a stunning album which is a gift to the world and a tribute to their Friend.

“We shot little arrows….fly”


Review written by Corinne Rutherford

 

About Reb Fountain

Reb Fountain may be New Zealand’s best-kept secret. Identified as a “the best voice to come out of Christchurch in ten years” in the finals of Battle of the Bands way back in 1990 she disappeared off the Kiwi music map. Since then Reb occasionally appears at her old haunts, mesmerizes anyone who’s there with an increasingly polished repertoire of breathtaking vocals, soulful lyrics and melodic tunes, before vanishing into thin air again. So what ever happened to Reb Fountain?

Perhaps it’s more like what didn’t happen: She got her first guitar at six and by the age of thirteen she had mapped her poetry onto melody, writing lyrics to the sound of her acoustic guitar. She’s been singer/songwriter for three bands Immaculate Sun, Like Water and Beckoning South with talented musicians like Pete Woods (Salmonella Dub/DJ Rockwood), Tony Harlem (Future Stupid), Mark Tyler (Salmonella Dub) and Pete Hobbs (Lesley Speaker/Kitset); trained as a jazz vocalist at a college in Seattle performing with great musicians which drummed out any insecurities about playing live; lived and recorded in major musical cities like New York, Vancouver and London all the time living and breathing music.

Yet you could be forgiven for not knowing who Reb Fountain is. If you’ve been at one of her gigs you certainly wouldn’t have forgotten her. Or maybe, by chance, you would’ve heard one her low-fi 4 track recordings with Like Water on Indie Hit Disc (#5 and 8), doing the rounds on RDU and Radio One. There’s no doubt, with her immense talent and productivity as a singer/songwriter, that she should’ve made several records in the last decade, but that hasn’t been her path until now. She’s been a lover, a fighter, a mother, and a writer; got a degree, two gorgeous kids, plenty of knowledge with wisdom to boot, strong political leanings and a great big heart wide-open to the world around her. Fortunately for us it pulses deeper and stronger everyday with desire to have the freedom to write and play, perform and learn, travel and share music with others.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Reb Fountain

Releases

Iris
Year: 2021
Type: Album
Reb Fountain
Year: 2020
Type: Album
Buy Online @ Mightyape
Hopeful & Hopeless
Year: 2017
Type: EP
Little Arrows
Year: 2017
Type: Album
Holster
Year: 2008
Type: Album

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