67 f
voice slides in among them; she dedicates the track to Finnish accordeonist Maria Kalaniemi, a prime proponent of close listening and focus on the sound.
The sounds and instrumentation widen, from the next track’s lively, almost Bach-like solo playing of a polska, through her own and traditional tunes and songs. She has gathered a choice team: Anders Löfberg, Dan Svensson, Olle Linder, Helge Andreas Norbakken vari- ously on cello, guitar and percussion, Johan Hedin (whom she describes as “a major source of my musical inspiration”) on second nyckel- harpa making an even more Bach-like effect in a pair of Småland släng polskas, and, for the album’s five beautiful, rich-textured and mas- terly string arrangements (her own), a string quintet from Trondheim.
The music is finely contrapuntal, worthy of classical respect but with all the gusto and lift of folk music. On tracks involving the strings and Norbakken’s percussion, particu- larly Galatea Creek, it develops quite a big, orchestral sort of sound, but doesn’t become thin when the nyckelharpa goes back to solo; it’s an instrument with a range from violin down to cello, whose sound is made all the richer and more satisfyingly complete by its sympathetic strings, and Amper knows how to get the best out of it.
Emilia Amper is a nyckelharpa master,
fine singer, composer and arranger with an explorer’s vision, and this is a luminous album.
www.bis.se Andrew Cronshaw
BARRULE BarruleWardfell Records EOTRCD02
Douglas, the last frontier… well maybe not but there it sits in the middle of the Irish Sea and we haven’t been paying it enough atten- tion. Apart from motor bikes, Christine Collis- ter and an incoming radio bloke named Ker- shaw, the Isle of Man hasn’t exactly been on music’s radar. In a tome supposedly devoted to Celtic music, the poor island got but one confused paragraph, lumped in with Corn- wall as a tag on to the Welsh chapter. Not exactly up front then.
All of which is unfair. There is a thriving Manx music scene, so no surprise really that it was the Welsh – experts these past few years at promoting self identity – in the shape of a third of Mabon, who threw down the gaunt- let when it comes to wider recognition. Bar- rule, or ‘Baarool’ in Manx, are accordeon master Jamie Smith, bouzouki overlord Adam Rhodes and homeboy fiddler Tomás Callister, who describe their debut as “Manx power trad”, and from the drive and verve of the opening track – which incidentally inspired the Manx national anthem – you can see why. We are then swirled around by pleasingly diverse selections of jigs, reels, marches, source songs and sympathetic self-composition.
True to their intention it isn’t just the featured three who have the spotlight, guests like Gregory Joughin are handed lead vocals, or Dylan Fowler, producer and gui- tarist, adds splendid instrumental support, especially on lap steel. She Lhong Honnick Mee is a wondrous, light hypnotic thing that manages to conjure a tantalising five minutes and you can see why they’ve chosen it as a free download single. There follows a delightful piano lead air dedicated to jet lag! Jamie Smith gets to front Langness, the only track in English, a tale of rare grasshopper versus a golf course developer, with the grasshopper winning. Hurrah!
Driving a mean melody or two, you’re pointed in the direction of Engage or Europop Vona (which tongue-in-cheek should be entered for that woefully begotten Eurovision thing, it’d win hands down). All
Southern Tenant Folk Union
this plus Ny Kirree Fo Niaghtey (The Sheep Under The Snow) which Horslips did on a long ago Christmas album. Here it wears dif- ferent clothing but is dedicated to struggling Manx shepherds after the harsh winter.
Success in all intentions, despite the unexpected fact it was recorded in Aber- gavenny. You’ll be needing this sharpish and the Isle of Man shows it can hold its own among more obvious cousins.
www.barruletrio.com www.manxmusic.com
Simon Jones
SOUTHERN TENANT FOLK UNION
Hello Cold Goodbye Sun Johnny Rock JOROCK 017
The fifth album from this Edinburgh-based roots collective is a delight. Somehow they’ve found the knack of merging Celtic and Amer- ican influences to reach a new synthesis, yet the sound, now perfected, is distinctly their own. And their thematic preoccupations – this time they take inspiration from horror movies and soundtracks – also mark them out as originals. If you’re not always sure where these songs are going, that’s part of the fun: the unexpected twist of harmony or lyric.
As before, banjos and fiddles blend to give an air of old-time twangery, but the band’s reference points are bang up to date. Crash, one of the strongest tracks, draws on the title and imagery of JG Ballard’s novel to land a punch on the corporate fat cats behind the financial crash.
There’s a wealth of songwriting talent in this band. Five of the collective’s members contribute original material. Voices har- monise sweetly on Chris Purcell’s opener, Goodbye Sun, while Carrie Thomas takes lead vocal on her own Dark Passenger. If Pat McGarvey’s Chest Freezer put me in mind of Jim Moray, his Men In Robes is more like a catchy hoedown. Ewan Macintyre’s An Duil opens out arrestingly from a traddy fiddle tune into a speculative and challenging lyric.
Meanwhile, Jed Milroy’s newly discov- ered talent on clarinet brings wistfulness to the band’s sonority on his gently melan- cholic Spey River.
With strong guitar and five-string banjo driving the momentum, you hardly notice how slim the rhythm section is, but this time round they’ve filled out the backbeat with guest per- cussion from Steve Fivey on several tracks.
This album sounds like a bunch of musi- cians truly listening and responding to each other. In fact, recorded live in a circle of micro- phones (so we’re told), that’s exactly what it is. I long to hear these songs in concert.
southerntenantfolkunion.com Philip Ward COUNTRY JOE & THE FISH
Electric Music For The Mind And Body Vanguard Masters VMD2 79244
Country Joe And The Fish were one of the most radicalised, politicised and psychedelised of any of the San Francisco Bay Area groups in the 1960s. In their case, they were Berkeley-based. ‘Country’ Joe McDonald (vocals, guitar), Barry Melton (lead guitar), Gary ‘Chicken’ Hirsch (drums), David Cohen (keyboards and guitar) and Bruce Barthol (electric bass) swept like a new broom through the West Coast bohemian scene. This was their calling card, following some Rag Baby vinyl calling cards – as a consequence of which Country Joe And The Fish helped finance Arhoolie, the greatest of the West Coast ethno record labels (see review of They All Played For Us in fR359 for further details).
Even if they don’t know it, this is one of the places from which the Trembling Bells and their kind began. This double CD – mono and stereo mix – reissue of the era- defining Electric Music For The Mind And Body is hugely enhanced and made accessi- ble by Alec Paleo’s remarkable notes, inter- views and the commentary materials about each track. Melton nails it: “I very much believe that, from a musicological point of view what people call psychedelic music has to do with an intersection of the folk revival, and jazz, and a time of world music avail- ability. It was the logical place for folk rock to go, to where it became an improvisation- al art form, in part...”
Of course, innovation ran like ferrets nip- ping and biting up all sorts of trouser legs. The shock then of Superbird referencing lo- culture Marvel comics, now with so many X- Men flicks buzzing around, seems unimagin- able. Even now the slow-tempo stoner blues
of Bass Strings and the slow-drip, Kimio Etō- inspired Japanese quality of Grace remain two of the great psychotropic testimonies ever. Eleven great songs times two. The reis- sue package of 2013 thus far.
Ken Hunt
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