Listening to Amazing Blondel feels like stepping through a tapestry into a romanticized, pastoral past. The air is thick with the scent of old parchment and woodsmoke, and the primary colors are the warm browns of lutes and the silver glint of recorders. It is music that rejects the volume of the 20th century in favor of the intricate, courtly dances of the 16th, delivered with a distinctly British, gentle sincerity.
What makes them truly distinctive is their commitment to the 'pseudo-Elizabethan' aesthetic. While their peers in the British folk revival were busy electrifying traditional ballads, Amazing Blondel went the other way, stripping back the rock elements to focus on madrigals, pavanes, and galliards. Their vocal harmonies are tight and choral, often sounding more like a cathedral choir than a rock band, yet there is a playful, troubadour spirit that keeps it from feeling like a dry academic exercise.
Start with 'Evensong' or 'Fantasia Lindum' to experience their peak creative period. These albums represent the purest distillation of their sound, where the interplay between lutes and woodwinds creates a fragile, beautiful atmosphere that is perfect for moments of deep focus or quiet reflection.
Amazing Blondel was an English acoustic progressive folk band, consisting of Eddie Baird, John Gladwin and Terry Wincott. They released LPs on Island Records in the early 1970s. They were sometimes categorised as psychedelic folk or as medieval folk rock, but their music was more a reinvention of Renaissance music, based around the use of period instruments such as lutes and recorders.
Shares choral, sparse bare, chamber folk, flute (vocal style)
Shares neofolk, flute, chamber folk, library (subgenre)
Shares neofolk, chamber folk, flute, library (subgenre)
Shares neofolk, sparse bare, chamber folk, flute (subgenre)
Shares sparse bare, flute, chamber folk, folk rock (production)
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