A review from Scottish Sunday broadsheet, The Sunday Herald 17/10/10
Doghouse Roses: The Broken Key (Yellowroom)
Alan Morrison
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25 Oct 2010
Folk-rock with Americana shadings from Paul Tasker and Iona Macdonald.
Guitarist Paul Tasker and singer Iona Macdonald claim they formed Doghouse Roses “after one too many nights drinking red wine and listening to Pentangle, Fairport Convention and Gillian Welch records”. The truth of this is obvious on their second album (the musical influences, that is; not the late-night drinking), which adds further textures to the string arrangements scattered across their debut, How’ve You Been (All This Time). Macdonald has been dogged by comparisons to Sandy Denny (but there are worse names to be called), and here her wonderfully expressive voice is the perfect counterpart to Tasker’s intricate finger-picking. Even within the expanded band line-up, this is a two-person show, and the impression is that a few years of near-constant touring have fashioned Tasker and Macdonald into a completely balanced unit. The folk-rock sound of the early 1970s is still the main reference point, but the jaunty blues of opener Atonement, the wonderful Americana vocal harmonies of Blue Moon On The Mountain, and the Bert Jansch colourings on The Highwayman, offer other musical routes.
