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LEYLA McCALLA The Capitalist Blues Jazz Village JV 570154
Another multi-talented refugee from the Carolina Chocolate Drops with a recording that offers just about everything, musically, lyrically and emotionally. Although McCalla switches styles and genres with ease, she does so with authority as she takes her New Orleans musicians on this musical journey. The title track, which holds the theme of the record, is hardcore New Orleans jazz march- ing band in feel, as McCalla tells how it can be a cold, cold world. From time to time she sings in Haitian Creole, and one such track, Mize Pa Dous is for me the album’s outstand- ing cut and translates beautifully as ‘Poverty Isn’t Sweet’. Heavy As Lead opens with the feel of a soul classic, with organ and off-beat guitar driving the background to a sensitive vocal and great lyrics. Zydeco comes later with Oh My Love, and there is even some angry distorted electric guitar providing the right feeling for the lyrics of Aleppo. This is one of those delightful records where each track deserves a mention, but the music here should be listened to, not read about. Go and do it.
leylamccalla.com John Atkins
BRIGHDE CHAIMBEUL The Reeling River Lea RLR003CD
Since the Isle of Skye piper Brìghde Chaimbeul won 2016’s BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, her debut album has been much anticipated. Recorded live in the historic Cromarty East Church on the Black Isle, Brìghde performs traditional Scottish and Bul-
garian tunes on the Scottish smallpipes (and on an old harmonium she found in the church), accompanied by fiddler Aidan O’Rourke, Radie Peat on concertina, and Gaelic singer Rona Lightfoot.
O Chiadain An Lo is a soulful, sonorous, yearnful tune from the Patrick MacDonald Collection (1784), performed by Brìghde with emotive nuance on the smallpipes, following an atmospheric prelude on harmonium. The church’s reverberant acoustics make this piece sound like ancient Gaelic raga music.
The Old Woman's Dance / The Skylark's
Ascension are two surging pipe tunes from ceilidh nights in Uist; Aidan O’Rourke’s
Brighde Chaimbeul
accompanying fiddle is richly legato one minute and rhythmically percussive the next.
In A Bhriogais Uallach / Nighean Donn
Nan Gobhar, the fiddle, concertina and bag- pipes intertwine in a sumptuously textured combination, painting a brooding sound- scape of a world that is serious, mysterious and strangely beautiful.
Moma E Moma Rodila are darkly lyrical Bulgarian tunes picked up by Brìghde on a visit to Sofia. And the traditional Bulgarian Tornala Maika is a sparkling, iridescent catherine wheel of a tune that Brìghde invests with a wailing, rhythmic delirium. Hear it on this issue’s fRoots 72 album.
Mary Brennan's / The Reeling and Ruidhle Mo Nighean Donn is a pulsing set of hypnotically whirling pipe tunes, with accom- panying Gaelic vocals that are so deeply root- ed in Gaelic tradition that they sound almost shamanic.
brichaimbeul.com Paul Matheson
THE GLOAMING The Gloaming 3 RealWorld CDRW223
Third studio album down and counting, the phenomenon that is The Gloaming moves onwards in its world domination plan. The Gloaming 3, as in Led Zeppelin III and San- tana III, is both a statement of intent and a refinement of the original game plan. Com- bining the talents of Martin Hayes, Denis Cahill, Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh, Iarla O’ Lionáird and Michael Bartlett, the five pieces interact in a unison tempered with a maturity gleaned from working the process in the stu- dio and live. A chamber folk ensemble par excellence, they traverse the poles of techni- cal virtuosity, raw excitement and measured ether, creating a sound both lush and luscious yet gutsy beneath.
Having braved the elements in their live release from Dublin’s National Concert Hall, they enter the studio again, this time in New York’s Reservoir Studio, to cut The Gloaming 3. The result is a carefully woven sonic palate, impressionistic takes on traditional music with broad sonic brushstrokes and ambient vocals. The song bag is set on Gaelic poetry both ancient and contemporary and the odd traditional song alluded to, as in the closing Amhrán na nGleann (The Song of the Glens). Lyrically, the works of latter-day Gaelic poet Liam O’Muirthile contribute the diverse tones of the gently evocative Athas and the more wayward zigzag of Meáchan Rudai (The
Weight of Things), the latter acting as the opening gambit while Reo – lyrics from the poet Sean O’Riordain – is enveloped in a con- temporary melody and some delicious East Clare fiddling from Martin Hayes.
The pieces are measured and in place; using purely acoustic instrumentation with piano, guitar, fiddle and hardanger d’amore behind Iarla O’Lionáird’s majestic vocals, they imbue their chamber folk with stylistic buoy- ancy. While the punch is there it’s more subtle and restrained than obvious and tune sets like The Lobster, which neatly counteracts Martin Hayes’ spindly dancing fiddle with Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh’s earthy hardanger tones and the gentle cascades of The Pink House stretch the measured pace into lan- guid fluidity. The Old Road To Garry and Sheehan’s Jigs have Hayes/ O’Raghallaigh/ Cahill firing on all cylinders with Michael Bartlett’s piano purring beneath the stringed attack.. Meeting the ethereal and cerebral is The Gloaming’s stylistic ace and they play it successfully. Taste and poise combined with musical eloquence are their calling cards and The Gloaming 3 is fascinatingly exquisite, jagged and testy by turn.
thegloaming.com John O’Regan IAN A ANDERSON
Onwards! 50 Years of Deathfolk, Blues, Psychi-Fi, Trad & World Twang Ghosts From The Basement GFTB 7053
When you spend fifty years in the same job, they throw a party and give you a carriage clock. When you’re a musician who’s been performing and releasing albums for that long, you get a career-spanning compilation. And while this hits any number of high notes, some of the gems are in the seven tracks never on CD before (five of them unreleased).
It’s a deep, very personal dig into the back catalogue, from 1969’s Stereo Death Breakdown all the way to 2017’s Deathfolk Blues Revisited, including stops at Hot Vul- tures, English Country Blues Band, Tiger Moth, Orchestre Super Moth, Blue Blokes 3 and the False Beards. Quite a sweep, but then again, it’s been quite a time.
It’s reminder of just how good and quiet- ly influential Anderson has been, an English bluesman who spread his wings wider and wider. Jimmy Reed meets trad. English? It’s right here. Africa to your doorstep, filtered through Bristol and London? Got it. Yet per- haps the greatest pleasure comes from the stripped-down tracks. Like the radio session of Ginger Man or the completely solo version of The Man In The High Castle, which fire with youthful energy that’s matched the best part of four decades later by the BB3’s version of Lord Allenwater (a song originally collect- ed from Anderson’s great-grandmother) that hits in a beautifully weighted performance.
It’s all astonishing and a constant joy. These ghosts are very welcome outside the basement. And there will hopefully be more to come.
ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com Chris Nickson ROWAN : MORRISON
In The Sunshine We Rode The Horses Miller Sounds MilledCD011
There aren’t many things you can do to ensure a Glowing Review from me, but here are three. 1. Give your band the same name as The Wicker Man’s famously elusive charac- ter (and just to be clear, I dug that film before ‘folk horror’ was even a glint in Lord Sum- merisle’s eye). It’s more than just a gimmick, too: the name is a nod to both writer, musi-
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