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TIM JONES & THE DARK LANTERNS Blossom & Fruit Tim Jones Music
The second full-length album by this London group sees them taking a huge stride forward with an album full of consistently strong origi- nal songs with a leavening of English folk material. An empathy with tradition is demonstrably evident in
songs like A Calling On Song (“Now you’ve called on me to sing…”) and the title track (“There is April, there is May, there is June and July…”) and in the interpretations of Sweet Lemeny and Polly On The Shore – on which singer Em Marshall harmonises beauti- fully with Jones’ lead voice.
Down Among The Dead Men doubtless incites bouts of frenzied frugging during per- formances in the capital’s licensed establish- ments, whilst the reflective The Gathering Storm has already established itself as a per- sonal favourite. Guitar entwines effectively with Kemp’s concertina and Karen Phillips’ violin on Jolly Tar Come Ashore With Your Trousers On – a traditional instrumental that marks with the album’s mid-point, while Jones’ compositional skills rise to the fore on his setting of Stratton Water (a poem in bal- lad form written by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1854). His growing ability as a lyricist is evinced in the sustained WWII drama Candles Out and his voice has never sounded better on record – for which some credit is surely due to producer Ian Carter (Stick In The Wheel). Carter practices the old skills of posi- tioning microphones within a physical envi- ronment and positioning recorded compo- nents within a finished mix. A master crafts- man out of the Bill Leader school.
With a settled lineup of Tim Jones (vocals
and guitar), Ted Kemp (concertina), Karen Phillips (violin and piano), Robin Timmis (vio- lin and viola) and Em Marshall (vocals, guitar and cajon), The Dark Lanterns are clearly a group intent on making progress and this album is a clear measure of their success.
timjonesmusic.com Steve Hunt
PAOLO ANGELI Talea AnMa ReR PA 10/ ALU 25
Paolo Angeli is, arguably, probably the hardest work- ing musician on the Italian jazz/folk scene. He plays a prepared Sardinian guitar; meaning he has taken the traditional instrument, a large-bodied guitar, and added extra drone string,
various pedals and piano like hammers, allowing him to play percussion on the body and the strings as well as plucking and bow- ing the instrument, all the while held in the playing position of a cello, between his legs.
This double CD is from live tour recordings made in Australia, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Turkey and North America. A man after my own heart, he prefers the atmosphere and energy that comes, complete with creaks and coughs and chair scrapes, of live recording over studio made music; “…human, instinctive, immediate and imperfect as with all of our lives”.
His repertoire draws from his Sardinian
folk roots (he is/was responsible for compiling the Archivio Mario Cervo archive of recorded Sardinian folk music from 1922–1997 – see below) as well as melodic elements from the rest of the Mediterranean’s collective musical voices. Modal and melodic, with a hint of dis- sonance here and there.
His instrument is an amplified acoustic one incorporating looping devices, some digi- tal processing and his own voice and takes us on a two hour journey through 26 tracks of his compositions, improvisations and musical constructions.
www.archiviomariocervo.it/the-archive/ Mike Cooper
COHEN BRAITHWAITE- KILCOYNE Outway Songster WildGoose WGs422CD
This is the best debut album by a young British performer who would sing and play songs and tunes garnered from the tradition for many a day. If Cohen Braithwaite- Kilcoyne continues to devel- op in the way shown here, and was previously apparent
in his work with Granny’s Attic, then he has the aptitude, skill and ability to rise to the top of British folk.
After all that there needs to be some- thing to justify that opinion which is easy, because there is much to like and admire here. There is his instrumental skill on both melodeons and anglo-concertina. When he accompanies himself, he adds interest by what he plays without diverting attention from the development of the song. When he plays dance tunes, he has a neat punchy touch on his squeezeboxes and a fine rhyth- mic approach which makes him sound as though he is used to playing for dancing, which, of course he is. His concertina playing on two fine, neglected tunes, Harrogate Quadrille/Newcastle Station, shows a high level of technical mastery. The choice of songs shows careful thought, planning and a good deal of research way beyond the obvious and lesser-known versions of big ballads: Edward, Tom The Barber (a variant of Willie o’ Wines- bury) and Babylon stand out.
His singing is powerful, his diction is good and he varies his approach according to the needs of the song. The influence of other singers can be heard in places, but that can be said of many emerging singers. The odd vocal mannerism appears in places though only occasionally. A straightforward album with no studio tricks and no accompanying musicians: none needed!
www.wildgoose.co.uk Vic Smith Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne
HOUSE AND LAND House And Land Thrill Jockey thrill 444
I’ve long-admired Sally-Anne Morgan’s work as a member of the legion of super-heroes that variously manifests as The Black Twig Pickers and Pelt. Sarah Louise Henson is, for me, a more recent discov- ery via her excellent twelve- string guitar record on VDSQ
(the snappily titled VDSQ Solo Acoustic Vol 12). Their pairing as House And Land finds them exploring ten traditional songs, sourced largely from unaccompanied versions record- ed by the likes of Jean Ritchie, Roscoe Hol- comb and Shirley Collins, in a minimal sound- scape of modal harmonies, microtonal orna- mentation and drone.
Several of the selections are hymns, including an Old Regular Baptist version of Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah (unaccom- panied, save for Morgan’s spectral fiddle) and The Day Is Past And Gone – on which Thom Nguyen’s drums entwine with Sarah’s twelve- string guitar like a briar and a rose, trans- forming the song into a thrillingly extempo- rised Appalachian raga. Elsewhere his splashed cymbals adorn Feather Dove in a thoroughly untraditional yet wholly apposite fashion. Sarah’s bouzouki chimes like a mountain dulcimer behind Sally’s banjo on Wandering Boy whilst Rich Old Jade (a fine old ballad full of familiar floating verses) fea- tures particularly effective use of a shruti box.
The album’s closing track is the first song they ever sung together – Unquiet Grave. That oft-quoted (by me!) Bob Dylan line about folk music – “it’s weird, man, full of legend, myth, Bible and ghosts” has rarely rung truer. There’s an undeniably haunted quality to this record (“spooky”, our editor calls it) but it’s also one that’s located square- ly in the present. With House And Land, Sally Anne Morgan and Sarah Louise Henson posi- tion themselves as contemporary women artists within a historically patriarchal tradi- tion (spot the gender changes in the tradi- tional ballad Johnny) and affirm their rela- tionships with both the natural and cultural environment through enthralling folk song performances of the most spontaneous and unprocessed kind.
My favourite record of the year, thus far.
houseandland.bandcamp.com/album/ house-and-land Steve Hunt
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