Alison Cotton lets The Gods Laugh through viola smoke and folk-drone weather

Alison Cotton’s I Am! arrives on 19 June from The Gods Laugh, and the title sounds like someone standing in the middle of a misty field and deciding not to whisper anymore. Cotton’s work sits beautifully in the overlap between folk, drone and psychedelic atmosphere, where repetition becomes ritual and strings can feel like weather rather than arrangement. The Bandcamp tags are direct: folk drone, psychedelic folk, United Kingdom. That is enough. I Am! suggests a statement of presence, but not the loud, polished kind. It feels more like a slow declaration emerging from layers of viola, voice and shadow. The Gods Laugh is also a wonderful album title because it leaves the listener unsure whether the laughter is cruel, cosmic or simply amused by how seriously humans take themselves. Cotton’s music tends to make that uncertainty feel sacred.

Source: https://alisoncotton-uk.bandcamp.com/track/i-am