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the dialect in a real abstract way. The artists train for like twelve years or some- thing to do it and they perform these pieces that are eleven- or twelve-hundred years old and they are not allowed to devi- ate at all from the original work. I think the kabuki is more modern in that way but noh is a very strict reproduction. The way the percussion instruments work with the movements and the voices is quite fright- ening. So we got interested in all that and experimented with Chinese sounds, which we worked with a bit on Ravens.”
She is speaking of Two Ravens, anoth- er challenging and unnerving track which tackles the dark subject of Alzheimer’s dis- ease and emerged after helplessly watch- ing her aunt suffering and eventually dying from the disease.
“It feels strange talking about it. It is such a horrible, horrible thing watching someone lose all their faculties and disin- tegrate. I was pondering her condition and playing around on the piano and the first verse just came out. I don’t why the idea of two ravens came to me but I did some research and found that in Viking mythology there was a blind king (Odin) who sent out two ravens each day to bring back news; one of them represented mem- ory and the other represented thought. The raven is quite a big symbol in Viking culture. I didn’t know that when I first came up with the idea of two ravens but I thought it was an interesting, relevant and symbolic reference, so I carried it on.”
The track also has a guest appearance on guitar by Martin Carthy.
“I
’ve always been inspired by him. When you get up close and watch him it’s like he taps into something inhu- man and almost unreal. It’s
like he’s rooted in Middle Earth it’s so magical. And when I played the song I could really hear Martin’s guitar in there but I thought ‘I can’t ask him, he’s Martin Carthy!’ But Gerry said ‘yes you can’ and so I plucked up the courage to phone him up and he was lovely. And, of course, he played the part brilliantly.”
Carthy is not the only member of the family to play on the new record, either. Marry Waterson – who Lisa first met on the tribute shows for her mother Lal – sup- plies glorious harmonies on one of Lal’s less trumpeted songs, Black Horse, which Lisa sang on tour with James Yorkston (also on the track).
“I was touring with James in Scotland and one day he just pulled the song out and said that when he was working with Marry she’d given him a load of songs that hadn’t been used and we sang it as a duet. And when I got back I was in my room one day and I got out this little drum and start- ed experimenting with it and layering har- monies and I thought wouldn’t it be amaz- ing if I could get Marry’s voice on it to sing it with me. And she did!”
When did Lal Waterson enter your horizon?
“Obviously I’d heard her name and come across a few things before, but the concert of her stuff we did really opened me up to her work. It’s so unique and so steeped in traditional melody, yet it gets
overlooked in popular culture. I’ve just recorded Lal’s song Fine Horseman for a charity project called Music And Migration that protects migrating birds. Maybe I should have recorded Migrating Bird, but Fine Horseman does mention the fine, fine sparrow. I asked Marry about that because some people sing fine flying sparrow and she said Lal originally wrote it as ‘fine fly- ing sparrow’ but found it difficult to sing so changed it to ‘fine, fine sparrow’.”
Kathryn Williams, another kindred spirit she first met at the Lal Waterson shows, also sings on the album, as does the ubiquitous Alasdair Roberts, who pops up with a guest vocal on Hunt The Hare Pt 1. This is one of two tracks relating to her on - going fascination with May songs, which has involved intense research culminating in last year’s beautiful hand-decorated Hunt The Hare: A Branch Of May EP.
“Oh yes, I’m definitely going to do another May CD,” she says, all bright-eyed wonder. “It’s a little series. There are so many May songs – it’s such a profound time of year and everyone responds to it. So many interesting bits and bobs in folk- lore are to do with May. Padstow, Jack in the Green and all that.”
She’s made quite a study of singing styles and both Björk and Kate Bush get honorary mentions when you ask about her favourite singers of all time. “Björk has a really interesting voice and I find Kate Bush very inspiring and a unique writer. I’ve listened a lot to her. I know it got criticised but I think there’s some stunning work on her Aerial album. Who else? Shirley Collins. And Billie Holiday. I
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