Boulder Fields - Nothing Age (2026)
BAND/ARTIST: Boulder Fields
- Title: Nothing Age
- Year Of Release: 2026
- Label: Boulder Fields
- Genre: Alternative, Indie Folk
- Quality: mp3 320 kbps / flac lossless (tracks)
- Total Time: 00:39:46
- Total Size: 91 / 252 mb
- WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist
01. Realign
02. Skin Too Thin
03. They Didn't Get You Then
04. Edge of Time
05. Idiot Split
06. Outside Hope
07. 40 Days and Nights
08. Wolf
09. This House Will Hold
10. Not Concerned
A boulder field is an area covered with large rocks, usually as a result of volcanic activity. They are believed to be formed by frost weathering below the surface, and examples can be found in the Scottish Cairngorms. So, the band’s name, Boulder Fields, conveys a harsh landscape.
However, Nothing Age, the latest release from Cam Fraser’s band, veers more towards the pastoral side (at least in its sound), as opposed to the hardness of the group’s name. This is a combination of Americana and folk, which is complemented by the fine interplay between the guitars of Fraser and Jamie Watson, the excellent drumming of Mark Bray and the quietly urgent, soulful vocals of Fraser and the bass player, Aly Barr. The blurry picture on the album’s cover shows Cam Fraser with a grey beard, woollen beanie, and a Breton striped shirt under his jacket, which is certainly how one imagines a worldly-wise Scottish folk singer should look. And somehow, Scottish singer-songwriters in this field always seem able to convey something of the misty Celtic atmosphere of that great country (think of King Creosote, Dean Owens and Dick Gaughan). This album does not disappoint in that regard.
And perhaps the image of frost weathering below the surface is relevant when one contemplates the quite introspective and personal nature of the lyrics. There is often a bit of frost below the surface in many relationships, and this record chips away at this.
The album adds some important guest contributions from Martha Barr on vocals, Reuben Taylor on accordion, and Graeme Young on keyboards, mellotron and percussion. This all adds up to a group which sounds as if it has played a lot together; it radiates accomplished experience. The melodic songs feed into each other at mid-tempo, and, dare one say, there is even a faint sense of a prog rock/hippie vibe in the sound. Certainly, Cam Fraser’s punk roots from his 1980s band, The Cateran, seem to be well disguised.
This is not a happy suite of songs. PG Wodehouse famously observed that: “It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.” However, Boulder Fields are not laying out their complaints; rather, there is a baring of the soul, with the lyrics dwelling on broken hearts, thwarted dreams, regrets, and a display of putting on a brave face against the trials and tribulations of life. The lyrics float around the messages they are conveying without telling specific narratives. This adds a touch of mystery and frustration to the mood. Fraser notes that: “Skin’s Too Thin/To Keep Secrets In” (Skin Too Thin). On the deceptively melodic They Didn’t Get You Then, with some haunting backing vocals from Martha Barr, he observes that: “They Don’t Give a Prize/To The Don’t Even Tries.”
Edge Of Time has a slightly dark and ominous, but subtly funky, vibe while it tells us that: “Never Gonna Find Out Where We’ve been/Never Gonna Find Out What It Means.” Outside Hope, with its vocals sung at a higher pitch, says: “It’s a Tangled Mess That We Can’t Cut Through” and “It Still Hurts/And I Wish That She Could Be Here Too.”
Meanwhile, on 40 Days And Nights, Fraser ruminates that: “It’s All Gone Wrong Again”, “Can’t See Any Future” and curses these “Godforsaken Days”. On the final track, Not Concerned, Fraser concludes the “Only Thing I Have To Do/Is Keep My Faith In You.” So, it would not be difficult to distinguish the lyrical content of this record from anything produced in days of yore by fellow Scots, The Bay City Rollers!
If this makes the album sound like a gloomfest, it is not, because the instrumentation is both tuneful and attractive, indeed often pretty. The songs tend to start with a melodic and attractive guitar signature. It is a very listenable record. The mood (if not perhaps the sound) calls to mind, in a way, the late, and now almost forgotten, David Ackles, who often combined sombre lyrics with a Brechtian, almost theatrical musical sound. Records pack more of a punch when they are honest and clearly come from the soul. Boulder Fields are ploughing their own furrow here, even if the emotional terrain is rocky and unforgiving.
01. Realign
02. Skin Too Thin
03. They Didn't Get You Then
04. Edge of Time
05. Idiot Split
06. Outside Hope
07. 40 Days and Nights
08. Wolf
09. This House Will Hold
10. Not Concerned
A boulder field is an area covered with large rocks, usually as a result of volcanic activity. They are believed to be formed by frost weathering below the surface, and examples can be found in the Scottish Cairngorms. So, the band’s name, Boulder Fields, conveys a harsh landscape.
However, Nothing Age, the latest release from Cam Fraser’s band, veers more towards the pastoral side (at least in its sound), as opposed to the hardness of the group’s name. This is a combination of Americana and folk, which is complemented by the fine interplay between the guitars of Fraser and Jamie Watson, the excellent drumming of Mark Bray and the quietly urgent, soulful vocals of Fraser and the bass player, Aly Barr. The blurry picture on the album’s cover shows Cam Fraser with a grey beard, woollen beanie, and a Breton striped shirt under his jacket, which is certainly how one imagines a worldly-wise Scottish folk singer should look. And somehow, Scottish singer-songwriters in this field always seem able to convey something of the misty Celtic atmosphere of that great country (think of King Creosote, Dean Owens and Dick Gaughan). This album does not disappoint in that regard.
And perhaps the image of frost weathering below the surface is relevant when one contemplates the quite introspective and personal nature of the lyrics. There is often a bit of frost below the surface in many relationships, and this record chips away at this.
The album adds some important guest contributions from Martha Barr on vocals, Reuben Taylor on accordion, and Graeme Young on keyboards, mellotron and percussion. This all adds up to a group which sounds as if it has played a lot together; it radiates accomplished experience. The melodic songs feed into each other at mid-tempo, and, dare one say, there is even a faint sense of a prog rock/hippie vibe in the sound. Certainly, Cam Fraser’s punk roots from his 1980s band, The Cateran, seem to be well disguised.
This is not a happy suite of songs. PG Wodehouse famously observed that: “It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine.” However, Boulder Fields are not laying out their complaints; rather, there is a baring of the soul, with the lyrics dwelling on broken hearts, thwarted dreams, regrets, and a display of putting on a brave face against the trials and tribulations of life. The lyrics float around the messages they are conveying without telling specific narratives. This adds a touch of mystery and frustration to the mood. Fraser notes that: “Skin’s Too Thin/To Keep Secrets In” (Skin Too Thin). On the deceptively melodic They Didn’t Get You Then, with some haunting backing vocals from Martha Barr, he observes that: “They Don’t Give a Prize/To The Don’t Even Tries.”
Edge Of Time has a slightly dark and ominous, but subtly funky, vibe while it tells us that: “Never Gonna Find Out Where We’ve been/Never Gonna Find Out What It Means.” Outside Hope, with its vocals sung at a higher pitch, says: “It’s a Tangled Mess That We Can’t Cut Through” and “It Still Hurts/And I Wish That She Could Be Here Too.”
Meanwhile, on 40 Days And Nights, Fraser ruminates that: “It’s All Gone Wrong Again”, “Can’t See Any Future” and curses these “Godforsaken Days”. On the final track, Not Concerned, Fraser concludes the “Only Thing I Have To Do/Is Keep My Faith In You.” So, it would not be difficult to distinguish the lyrical content of this record from anything produced in days of yore by fellow Scots, The Bay City Rollers!
If this makes the album sound like a gloomfest, it is not, because the instrumentation is both tuneful and attractive, indeed often pretty. The songs tend to start with a melodic and attractive guitar signature. It is a very listenable record. The mood (if not perhaps the sound) calls to mind, in a way, the late, and now almost forgotten, David Ackles, who often combined sombre lyrics with a Brechtian, almost theatrical musical sound. Records pack more of a punch when they are honest and clearly come from the soul. Boulder Fields are ploughing their own furrow here, even if the emotional terrain is rocky and unforgiving.
| Folk | FLAC / APE | Mp3
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