Berlin-based indie folk trio Mighty Oaks are starting off the new decade in the best way possible enchanting us with their third and best album yet, “All Things Go”, released last Friday 7th February.

With “All Things Go”, the band embark on a new chapter; after ten years, countless gigs, two albums, and four EP’s, everything is changing, and everything is still the same. How? Because it’s still Ian Hooper, Claudio Donzelli and Craig Saunders. It’s still their stories, their songs, and their friendship forming the very heart of Mighty Oaks. Three men who’ve grown up with the band since they first recorded a few songs in a living room in Berlin.

The opening track of the album “All Things Go” is an outstanding piece of cleverly crafted harmonies, hooks, and melodies that maintains a classic indie-folk sound of upbeat acoustics and soothing vocals, flowing through to the heartfelt lyrics of “Need You Now” preaching the importance of stopping and appreciating what others do for you in life. Continuing the album with a keen focus on the important relationships life fosters, “Tell Me What You’re Thinking” and “Lost Again” both beautifully encapsulate difficulty understanding one-another and the past.

.

.

The album is perfectly balanced, from a deeply personal and emotional track reflecting upon the death of Ian Hooper’s mother to the uplifting reminders and joyful guitar riffs in “What You Got” prompting it’s listener to embrace every lesson presented to you in life. The sweet choral harmonies of “Crazy” and the delicate melody of the albums ballad “Fly To You” both generate a sense of the power of a love of life in overcoming hardships. These powerful tracks mount to a fitting close, with “Kids” as the final track there is an ultimate message that looks to our future with hope and fear, tied together with dreamy  folky guitar riffs and warm husky harmonising it is a reflective track revealing the passionate values of the group.

With “All Things Go” the trio have let go of all preconceptions and limitations which did not come easy at first. It took a year and a half of working between tour dates and writing breaks until the band realised it would not work. Until Ian had met Berlin based producer Nikolai Potthoff and they started to write a few songs together – a collaboration that worked really well. So well that Potthoff came on board as a producer and suddenly it took two months to record the entire album. “Nikolai took our music forward, like a fourth band member”.

Mighty Oaks broke free. From expectations, from requirements, from rules. Or to put it in their own words: “Why should we be satisfied with being labelled and put in a drawer if we can have the whole cabinet?”