Witchazel
Witchazel is the third studio album by English musician, actor, and comedian Matt Berry, initially released as a free digital download on 11 March 2009 via his personal website. The album blends elements of psychedelic pop and British folk rock, featuring acoustic instrumentation, whimsical lyrics, and orchestral touches such as oboe and trumpet. It was later commercially reissued by Acid Jazz Records on 7 March 2011 in physical formats, including CD and vinyl. A tenth anniversary reissue on caramel-colored vinyl followed on 20 August 2021.[1][2][3][4] The album comprises 13 tracks, including standout songs like "Take My Hand," which serves as the theme music for Berry's BAFTA Award-winning television series Toast of London, and "An Awakening," which opens with delicate, twinkling melodies. Other notable tracks include "Accident at a Harvest Festival," evoking pastoral imagery, and "The Pheasant," characterized by sweeping guitar and oboe arrangements. Berry handled most instrumentation and production himself, contributing vocals, guitars, keyboards, and more, with additional contributions from James Stapleton on drums and Cecilia Fage on vocals and clarinet, as well as backing vocals by Peter Serafinowicz imitating Paul McCartney on "Rain Came Down." The lyrics often explore themes of nature, introspection, and quirky narratives, aligning with Berry's multifaceted career in comedy and music.[3][5][6][7] Witchazel received positive critical reception for its enchanting and eclectic sound, with reviewers praising its melodic sophistication and Berry's versatile songwriting. It marked a significant step in Berry's musical evolution following his 2008 album Opium, establishing him as a notable figure in the neo-psychedelic and folk revival scenes. The album's reissues have sustained its availability and cult following among fans of progressive and indie rock.[5]Background and concept
Development
Following the release of his second studio album Opium in 2008, Matt Berry developed his third full-length project, Witchazel, emphasizing countryside themes and psychedelic elements. This built on his earlier explorations of eclectic rock but focused on an immersive, atmospheric sound evoking rural landscapes.[8] Berry's inspirations for Witchazel emerged in 2008, drawing from his interest in the eerie allure of rural British landscapes. These influences included childhood memories of folklore and superstitions.[9] The resulting work channels rural themes through psychedelic lenses.[8] From the project's inception, Berry acted as the sole songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, handling vocals, guitars, keyboards, and more to craft a self-contained vision.[8] He sketched early demos in his tiny one-bedroom flat in South East London, capturing initial ideas swiftly on GarageBand with basic microphones to preserve raw spontaneity—many of which became final tracks without alteration.[8] This home-based process underscored the album's intimate, lo-fi origins amid limited resources.[8]Themes and influences
Witchazel centers on motifs of the eerie and unsettling aspects of rural life, including isolation and supernatural disquiet in pastoral environments. Matt Berry described the album as embodying a "folk horror kind of" aesthetic, rooted in his longstanding interest in such themes.[10] These elements draw from British folk traditions, blending rustic imagery with a sense of underlying menace that permeates the record's narrative.[8] The album's influences stem primarily from 1960s and 1970s psychedelic folk and psych music, which Berry has identified as key to its sound and conceptual foundation. This era's artists, known for their experimental fusion of folk melodies with hallucinatory and ominous undertones, informed Witchazel's evocation of countryside unease. Song titles and concepts, such as "The Pheasant," portray rural scenes with a mix of whimsy.[8][5]Production
Recording process
The recording of Witchazel took place in late 2008 and early 2009 at Matt Berry's two-room flat located on Jacobs Island in Shad Thames, London, marking a shift to a more intimate home-based production compared to his previous albums.[11][12] Berry handled the bulk of the engineering and mixing himself using GarageBand, a digital audio workstation he was exploring for the first time, which allowed for efficient layering of tracks to achieve the album's psychedelic textures without external resources.[8][12] Berry adopted a hands-on approach, performing the majority of instruments including guitar and keyboards, while emphasizing one-take recordings to maintain an organic feel reminiscent of 1970s folk and psychedelic sessions.[12] Drummer James Stapleton contributed the live drum tracks, captured with a pair of ADK condenser microphones positioned to replicate a raw, live-room ambiance, and Berry incorporated the GForce M-Tron plug-in for authentic Mellotron sounds like brass and vibraphone to enhance the folk-infused depth.[12] This method prioritized speed and minimal overdubs, with Berry aiming to evoke the sound of early 1970s recordings made in informal settings such as a village hall or woodland area.[12] Production decisions centered on capturing a warm, analogue-inspired tone despite the digital setup, focusing on the album's pastoral and hallucinatory qualities through careful track layering rather than extensive post-processing.[8] The process wrapped up prior to the initial free digital release on 11 March 2009, with Acid Jazz Records taking over for the commercial edition in 2011.[11]Personnel
Matt Berry served as the lead artist, producer, engineer, and mixer for Witchazel, performing the majority of instruments including vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, ukulele, bass guitar, piano, electric piano, electric organ, pipe organ, accordion, Mellotron, synthesizer, glockenspiel, percussion, and dinner bells.[6][2] Guest contributors included comedian Peter Serafinowicz, who provided backing vocals on "Rain Came Down" in the guise of Paul McCartney.[13][14] Cecilia Fage contributed harmony and backing vocals, clarinet, recorder, and owl sounds throughout the album, and co-composed the music for "Recorder Dance" (part of the track "From the Manger to the Mortuary / Recorder Dance").[6] James Stapleton handled drums and additional percussion on the record.[6] All writing credits for lyrics and music are attributed to Matt Berry, except for Fage's contribution noted above.[6]Musical style and composition
Genre and instrumentation
Witchazel is classified primarily as psychedelic folk, drawing on British pastoral traditions and 1970s psychedelic pop influences, with progressive folk elements that evoke the era's experimental underground scenes.[12] The album blends wistful, woodland-inspired melodies with psych-folk vibes, incorporating subtle prog structures and atmospheric textures reminiscent of late-1960s folk psychedelia.[5][8] Instrumentation centers on a folk-rock foundation, featuring acoustic and electric guitars that provide reverb-heavy, pastel sweeps for an ethereal quality, often enhanced by vintage effects like Panasonic hi-fi reverb units from the 1970s.[8] Matt Berry performed most instruments himself, including ukulele, bass guitar, piano, electric piano, Hammond organ, electric organ, accordion, synths, and bells, creating layered, dusty soundscapes akin to a worn 1970s LP.[2][12] Supporting contributions include sparse percussion and drums by James Stapleton, which build tension through minimalistic patterns, alongside clarinet and recorder.[12][15] Analog synths and Mellotron emulations add eerie, atmospheric depth, while brass like trumpets and woodwinds such as oboe introduce soul-funk inflections in select passages.[5][12] The album's composition emphasizes extended, modal explorations over rigid song forms, fostering a sense of immersive, rural unease that ties loosely to its themes of countryside peril inspired by Richard Adams' Watership Down.[16] This approach, recorded largely in a DIY setup with GarageBand, yields a lo-fi yet polished intimacy, prioritizing conceptual mood over high-fidelity polish.[8]Track listing and analysis
The album Witchazel comprises 13 tracks with a total runtime of 49:22, all written by Matt Berry.[2] The track listing is presented below:| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An Awakening | Matt Berry | 0:46 |
| 2 | Take My Hand | Matt Berry | 3:10 |
| 3 | Accident at a Harvest Festival | Matt Berry | 3:24 |
| 4 | A Song for Rosie | Matt Berry | 2:49 |
| 5 | So Low | Matt Berry | 3:16 |
| 6 | Look in My Book | Matt Berry | 3:28 |
| 7 | The Pheasant | Matt Berry | 4:18 |
| 8 | Woman | Matt Berry | 2:54 |
| 9 | The Badger's Pub | Matt Berry | 3:02 |
| 10 | Rain Came Down | Matt Berry | 3:42 |
| 11 | The Wild and the Wounded | Matt Berry | 3:28 |
| 12 | A Bit of a Headache | Matt Berry | 2:39 |
| 13 | Witchazel | Matt Berry | 12:26 |