Sorrow – a folk-pop group formed by former Strawberry Switchblade member Rose McDowall with her then-husband Robert Lee – existed between 1993 and 2001, releasing two albums an EP. “Ruby Tears” is from Sorrow’s 1st (1993) album “Under The Yew Possessed” just re-issued on LP by Glasgow’s Night School Records.
While Sorrow’s neo-folk stylings and spectral darkness (the name and also opening track “Die” set the tone) may be a change in direction from Strawberry Switchblade’s light sparkling pop there’s still a delicate pop heart to “Under the Yew Tree Possessed” built around McDowall’s 12-string guitar and clear voice and delivered with minimal percussion, washes of keyboards and melodica or flute.
The style here is reminiscent in some ways with the kind of airy reverb washed sounds created by Felt, a band with whom McDowall had recorded backing vocals for (their last album “Me and a Monkey on the Moon”). The track “Emptiness” is an example of this Felt like sound:
Pop Lib 