June 2026 has been a busy month for Gaz & Ash aka Midnight Fyre even by their own standards I would guess. Two Birthdays, one CD launch and marriage. Musically though they’ve been married a while now, as anyone who has been lucky enough to catch the duo performing will testify I’m sure. Their debut release is named Butterfly Moon after their former band name, and released under their new name Midnight Fyre. It’s based unpretentiously on the songs as presented in their live shows, with no grand musical embellishments. The result being a belter of a disc for lovers of thoughtful lyrics and unbridled musical joy – both of which are in abundance here.
If you haven’t been lucky enough to catch the duo (who appeared twice now at Bonn Folk Club) then I would suggest putting the volume up high on this one if you want to really capture the live vibe. Ashleigh Edwards’ voice is the big star on the CD as well as live. If you want proof, skip the disc to track 5, listen to ‘Intertwine’, sing along to the “You and I” chorus and then just marvel at the note that Ashleigh holds seemingly forever.
I’m pleasantly surprised at how well the songs come across on a purely audio level. The duo are both not only musicians but also actors, which obviously comes across well on a stage where Ash’s movement and gestures whilst singing have a certain instantaneous choreography about them and Gaz still manages to be physically active dancing around even though he has a guitar to keep his hands busy. But how does that translate from speakers alone? Very well indeed, and you can feel the theatre side of the songs even without any visuals. On ‘Still gonna be there’ you can almost see Ash holding her hands together in a soliloquy stance.
The cover is beautifully presented with artwork from Beka Haigh and although ‘Butterfly Moon’ isn’t described as a concept album I can see it performed as a musical theatre piece. The themes of Nature and Mother Earth pin virtually every track together, with Light a particular recurring theme and lyric. ‘Share your Light’, ‘Rotate the Night’, ‘Northern Lights’ there’s a grand celebration going on here of measuring days not by minutes or seconds but by Seasons and by day into night that so fascinated our ancestors but is lost in our modern IT dictated World. When did you last stand back and admire God’s natural gift as Ash does when, at seeing the Northern Lights, she sings “I almost cry at the colours shining”? Most of us are instead the sort of person she scolds on ‘Second Home’– “No matter where you go there is always someone whiling time away…”
‘Butterfly Moon’ then is a wake-up call to celebrate the things we’ve forgotten to celebrate. Much of it’s imagery references Nature, light, colour and dreams. As the duo sing so eloquently together on ‘Step out of the Silence’:
“Step out of the silence.
To the space in between.
Let the colours fall.
Onto a canvas of your dreams”
If you’re already a fan of Midnight Fyre then ‘Butterfly Moon’ will make a perfect souvenir of their performance. If not, then enjoy this wonderful offering from a unique and talented couple.
