ALBUM REVIEW: Mills & Farrell – Crooked Path

Released: 28.03.26

There’s a lot more that goes into creating a body of musical work than just putting pen to paper and fingertips to instrument. It’s the result of the lived experiences, emotions and actions of the creator. A lot of lived experiences went into the creation of Mills & Farrell’s second album, Crooked Path – enough to make a truly unique, transcendent record.

Janet Mills and David Farrell come from very different backgrounds: Mills from Nova Scotian folk stock, Farrell from Australian rock. But their perhaps unlikely union has birthed a timeless acoustic folk style that can be universally enjoyed from the tip of the American continent to the depths of the Aussie lowlands. Now, they’ve relocated to a little town just outside of Newcastle upon Tyne – and they’re embracing all aspects of their shared lives and feeding them into their new release.

Armed with little more than their dual voices and acoustic guitars, Mills & Farrell plunge into atmospheric harmonies which echo across the ages. Their songs’ subjects often touch on classic mainstays of the folk genre: natural cycles like that of the weather or the mayfly. But the truly interesting ones are those which delve a little into urban topics: The Drink, a plaintive but gut-wrenching tale of betrayal within the familiar setting of the Tyne and Wear Metro system; Maggie, an ode to Newcastle’s mascot bird; Lifeboat, written in honour of those living in these difficult times without any sign of rescue any time soon.

Simultaneously haunting and uplifting, Mills & Farrell’s Crooked Path is certainly one worth traversing.