f64 QUIQUE ESCAMILLA

500 Years Of Night Lulaworld Records LWRCD001

Judging by his photo on the inner cover of this debut CD, Mexican-born, Canadian-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Escamilla looks quite the 21st Century troubadour: bearded, be-hatted and strum- ming on an acoustic guitar. And this is borne out on the disc within, released last year in Canada and now seeing the light of day internationally, which features songs of hard- ship, exile, good-times and revolution per- formed with a range of influences, but always with at least one boot in the fertile soil of Escamilla’s deep Mexican roots.

While some have already drawn compar- isons with Manu Chao, Los De Abajo and the like, Escamilla is pretty much his own man, with a sweet passionate voice and deceptive- ly unassuming style. His default mode here is chunky guitar-driven Mexican folk-rock, with maybe a horn or two buzzing around for good measure. But he can handle heartfelt acoustic balladry with just the right note of wistful passion too. An excursion into rap doesn’t quite work out, but the easy-rolling reggae of Presa Facil makes for a surprisingly good fit (perhaps because Jamaican and trad Mexican rhythms aren’t always that far apart).

Backed by a sympathetic band of (pre- sumably) local musicians and with nicely uncluttered production courtesy of Escamilla and co-producer Jon MacLean, 500 Years Of Night (the title refers to the oppression of the indigenous peoples of the Americas) is an unexpected good thing.

www.quiqueescamilla.com/ Jamie Renton THE TEACUPS

Of Labour And Love Haystack Records HAYCD008

The Teacups are a young a cappella group comprising four Newcastle University gradu- ates: Rosie Calvert, Alex Cumming, Will Finn and Kate Locksley. Right at the start, and fol- lowing the unbeatable direct experience of singing together, they took the deliberate, and brave, decision to perform entirely with- out instrumentation (despite being perfectly competent instrumentalists).

A couple of years ago The Teacups released a taster-brew, One For The Pot,

Lovers, where Kate delivers a poignant, imag- inatively-phrased lead, while Kate’s own orig- inal song, The Antiguan Graveyard, also has considerable merit. The strict adoption of a cappella does not, however, preclude the inclusion of a modicum of body-percussion on Ye Mariners All and some vigorous stepping to accompany the wordless ‘diddled’ tunes of The Rapper Set.

The territory covered in this impressive (albeit slightly meagre at barely half-an- hour) new offering is encouragingly wide, and The Teacups here prove themselves a definite band to watch, one whose keen abilities are coupled with their penchant for taking calculated risks.

www.theteacups.co.uk David Kidman

THE HONEY DEWDROPS Tangled Country Own label

Quique Escamilla

which presented well-considered, better- than-capably-harmonised takes on nine tradi- tional songs, along with a contemporary item taken from an Alistair Anderson folk-opera, which hinted at a promising future direction. Further evidence of The Teacups’ brimming confidence in their abilities and their eager- ness to embark on even more challenging vocal adventures, is now provided on follow- up Of Labour And Love, which takes a distinct leap forward both in terms of its more enter- prising and skilful settings and its increasingly progressive choice of material. A natural emphasis falls on the notably well-balanced nature of the ensemble and the degree of acutely-focused care which they exercise on the arrangement for each song.

And it’s abundantly clear that in order to achieve their stated goal of delivering the best version of any chosen song, they really listen to each other, valuing the collective experience while still realising the potential of each individual voice. There’s much inven- tiveness at work here, from the interleaving of parts that chime through The Bellringing to the fearless incorporation of some quite chilling discords on Oxford City. Any type of a cappella song proves grist to the Teacups’ mill, from rousing chorus singalong Labour- ing Men and steamboat shanty Sugar In The Hold to sublime parting gift Journey’s End and a standout version of The Drowned

Husband and wife team Kagey Parrish and Laura Wortman aka the Honey Dewdrops, now based in Baltimore, Maryland, just get better each time I hear them. I am a sucker for classic duos singing well-constructed country songs in an acoustic setting, and this is just as good as it gets. Both partners are good enough to make it as solo singers. Adja- cent tracks find Wortman singing solo on large parts of the excellent Lowlands and then Horses with Parrish similarly let loose on Fair Share Blues. This sharing of lead vocals is repeated throughout the album, but good as they may be individually, when joined by the other partner on the chorus the results are sublime. There are many highlights. Wort- man’s lead singing on Numb puts me in mind of the late Kate Wolfe and on the cut where her partner remains silent, Guitars, her deliv- ery is first class. Finally on the album’s last track, a delicate instrumental, she leads on banjo –my chance, probably for the first and last time, to use the words ‘delicate’ and ‘banjo’ in the same sentence. As with all great duets before them their voices are always a perfect interval, invariably a third, apart and the family relationship, brothers, husband and wife seems to add a further degree of closeness. The original songs, ten in all, are mostly one word titles hiding a plea- surable set of words and music and an out- standing recording.

www.thehoneydewdrops.com John Atkins