Summer outdoor festivals have a way of blending music and atmosphere transcending an earthly experience into some kind of a deeper connection with the world. It is rare when a record has the same effect, but Rachael Dadd’s Bite the Mountain will have you drifting off in a peaceful meditative state with her strong and soothing voice invoking child like experiences of beautiful lullabies. Only these songs dig deeper with minimal, yet poignant instrumentation combined with honest and sometimes quirky story telling highlighting Dadd’s unique personalty. But first, let’s start with the album cover.

Rachael Dadd is a complete artist by trade preferring to finish every inch of the work herself. Her past EPs and albums all feature handmade covers or textile pouches proving that what is on the cover is as equally as important as the songs themselves. It is with this kind of passion that she brings forth her first full length on Broken Sound Records. But Bite the Mountain strays slightly from her DIY formula by welcoming collaborations with her Japanese musical family expanding her repertoire with a greater array of instruments including subtle violins, reeds, traditional flute and expressive percussion bits. The result is a series of beautiful soundscapes all faithfully swirling around a folk ethos. Dadd’s brand of folk reaches beyond the traditional definitions of the term borrowing motifs from Japan, America the UK and even the Caribbean in ‘Good Good Light’ which features steel drums along side a traditionally plucked banjo. The point of it all is to make gorgeous, organic music not tied to any particular traditional genre but with an ability to appeal to traditionalists.

Bite the Mountain captures the essence of an artist intimately aware of her surroundings and connected to the world with her unique voice. Dadd’s harmonies seem equally comfortable in a massive cathedral or in a backyard with guitar in hand and whatever else she can manipulate in tandem. Either way, the melodies are soft and sweet, never hurried and full of a kind of positive soul food that nourishes and replenishes. Whether she is singing about the comforts of cooking rice, or reflecting on a grandeur scale, her prose is suits the music and the listener could either choose to explore her intentions or sit back and appreciate the pleasing interplay from the arrangement.

Folk-pop continues to gain momentum on a global scale satisfying a need to diverge from a standard 3 chord pop progression and retain sense of intricate design. Rachael Dadd is an artist that is destined to define the genre. Operating without the help of major record labels, her success is qualified by staying true to her DIY ethic exposing all of the facets of her art and herself. Her complete vision has given us Bite the Mountain, an album that will not be easily shelved or forgotten.