New Music 2016 - Part 21 - Ninebarrow - Releasing the Leaves

'Releasing the Leaves' is the second long-player from Dorset folk duo Ninebarrow, comprising John Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere. It was released on 26 March 2016.

There has long been superstition around a malaise known as "difficult second album syndrome": these days even getting the first album out there and noticed is a huge hurdle. Without a doubt Ninebarrow achieved that, magnum cum laude, with 2014 release 'While The Blackthorn Burns' that I mentioned here.
Like its predecessor 'Releasing the Leaves' consists of a mix of original and traditional tunes and songs. The balance is approximately equal, but you would often be hard pressed to guess which fall into each category. That could be either a blessing or a curse. 
My inclination is much towards the former opinion - this record had a satisfying coherence and that is a very good thing. This is the track list.

• The Pinner
• For a Time
• Lord Exmouth
• To the Stones
• Weave Her a Garland
• Back & Sides
• Three Ravens
• Blood on the Hillside
• Silent Prayer
• Coming Home
• Dark Eyed Sailor

The original songs are for the main part inspired by places that the artists love and the associated stories  This anchors them to the chosen traditional songs. If there were to be a critical counterpoint it is that some of the stand-outs that punctuated 'While The Blackthorn Burns' such as  Mother, whilst all present and correct, need more seeking and attention this time out. That I even feel the need to mention this is a situation quite enviable.
One of my bugbears is LPs that don't contain lyric information. Ninebarrow have gone beyond that here by making a Songbook freely available on-line - this includes both the lyric and also information about the inspiration and stories behind the songs.

I became aware of Ninebarrow not through recorded music and my biggest recommendation of all is to see the duo play live. Here is a slightly unusual slant on that taken from the hundreds of wonderful acoustic sessions that are most often recorded by Jon Earl in his remarkable garden shed in north Somerset - Songs From The Shed.

This is 'The Sea' and "The Shed on Tour" at its temporary home at Larmer Tree Festival, North Dorset, in 2014.

In the Songs From The Shed archive you may discover a cornucopia of music that you had not yet realised quite existed, or  existed but not quite in the form in which it appears here. 

My 2014 in Music - Albums - Part 1

With December, traditionally the start of the pre-Christmas hiatus in meaningful musical releases, just hours away it is time to start mentioning those releases of 2014 that have for whatever reason been highlights for me.
One change is that while the acts are grouped in alphabetical order the number of entries has been reduced to ten in this list. This is not due to a shortage of possibilities, far from it indeed, but rather to make compiling and writing each post more manageable.

• Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
• Arc Iris - Arc Iris
• Clara Engel - Looking Glass Fire
• Jennifer Crook - Carnforth Station
• Joanne Shaw Taylor - The Dirty Truth
• The Moulettes - Constellations
• Ninebarrow - While The Blackthorn Burns
• The Rails - Fair Warning
• Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso
• Ward Thomas - From Where We Stand

One thing that changed not a jot is the influence that music I have seen live during 2014 has had on the outcome - eight of the ten above fall into that category and of those eight I have seen four live on at least two distinct occasions. Of the ten, five are LPs that I own on vinyl.

I just felt the need to get the ball rolling on this late autumn afternoon. It is easy to keep putting the start of such things off for another day for while it is certainly not a chore, a certain activation barrier has to be overcome nevertheless. Links - some might be my own and others to the artist or label - and probably some relevant photos will follow shortly.
I am happy if people would like to make comments and suggestions. I will be equally so if this leads anyone to find music of which they were previously either unaware of had forgotten about. If it tempts you to head out and see some live music then that is a real bonus. It is also, truth be told, quite simply the music that I really liked.

The alphabet is as it is; it starts this list with an artist that was a complete surprise, and a revelation, to me. I had heard it said that, as a performer, she is at best diffident and at worst obtuse. Be that as it may I can now go only with what I heard and observed myself. Those descriptions are quite harsh I believe; reserved and self-absorbed maybe, which means it admirably mirrors the album title 'Burn Your Fire For No Witness'. 

Angel Olsen - Green Man Festival 2014.

A bonus that accrued from starting a blog is that I really had to go out to see live music and soon armed with a camera. I often don't go far at all...

Ward Thomas, Cheese & Grain, Frome, 2 August 2014.  The opening date of their début headline tour.

The Moulettes are currently supporting Bellowhead on tour, but often playing as a four-piece and good though this is (dubbed the Moulllites by Hannah Miller) when I saw them thus live at Reading Hexagon just a couple of weeks ago you really do need to see them live as a six-piece playing a full set because that is in another league entirely. This was fresh on my mind as I had seen them thus just ten days previously at Marnhull Acoustic Sessions. You can do exactly that at Behind The Castle Festival on 13 June 2015.

One of the Reading absentees: Ruth Skipper, Marnhull Acoustic Session, 9 November 2014.

North Dorset Folk Festival 2014

I'm back home from the above mentioned. Was it good? Don't even get me started!

This was the third edition and the second at its current venue of Marnhull Village Hall. I think I have said each time that the latest will be hard to better. Take it as read that it applies here too.
The word bijou applies to this festival more than any other that I can think of. A jewel is usually very small but perfect and, for some reason, in English we borrowed the French word when used as an adjective. As a demonstration of the intimacy of the setting I took this picture from the back row of the seating and without zoom of any kind. The sound desk was perhaps 2 metres behind me and the back wall of the hall immediately behind that.

This is headline artists Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin and I shall return to them.

I'm a big fan of seeing opening acts and as it happens in this case he was the only one on the bill that I had never seen live before. This just shows the strength-in-depth on offer here. 

It was Gavin Davenport and he is hardly unknown, as the link will attest. He played a variety of instruments of which the concertina is a favourite of mine.

The next artist to play may not be known to you unless you were at Behind The Castle Festival in 2014, which is where I first saw her live. That should change very soon and I'm interested to hear how she sounds with backing musicians. Why so? See here.

Lizzyspit releases her first full length recording 'Villains' in January 2015.

I remember the next act, Tinderbox, from my visit to the first North Dorset Folk Festival (NDFF) in 2012. Totally new to me then, seeing them play again yesterday was quite the nostalgia thing.

They were, as in 2012, joined by Bob Burke (right) and he is now the only artist to have played all three editions of NDFF, where he played solo in 2013. Tinderbox release a live album 'Live! At The Cottage' shortly. Indeed, and thanks for the link information, you can now pre-order it here.  I have to say that, while you can take Monique Houraghan out of Dublin you can't take Dublin out of her. Later we were treated, by Hannah Martin, to an apposite Oscar Wilde quote! And that is not to mention the fact that Tinderbox challenged Ninebarrow (see below) to a cover 'duel' - and it seems that both parties freely accepted.

Next was the UK based but bluegrass-influenced and all-round inventiveness of three-piece Jaywalkers - from left to right: Mike, Lucy and Jay. They are working on their third LP.

The old-time Appalachian style, whether the tracks are new or traditional, was just the ticket at this point in the day.

After these four acts there was a longer interval before the next three sets. This was to allow for food, drink and also reconfiguring the stage set-up for what was to come. On the subject of food I'll say only this: Cake was clearly pretty much the only food that the artists coveted.

The music resumed with Dorset duo Ninebarrow that also play a mixture of traditional and new compositions, the latter mostly inspired by history and landscape.

I think that perhaps the most incisive comment in the link above is provided by the duo that were headlining. There is something about their take on music that really matters. They played some new songs and that really mattered too. This was taken during one of those new songs. It is astonishing to remember that their first released recording, 'Kingdom EP', was released in 2013 and début LP 'While The Blackthorn Burns' as recently as April 2014.

First support was an artist who played at the first NDFF in 2012 and that was also the first time I saw Megan Henwood play live although I was well aware of the 2011 album 'Making Waves' before that. I have seen her play solo, as a four-piece and, as here, a three-piece.

Any which way it is an experience.

The vicissitudes on the path of a musician are many and as such have delayed the release of her second LP 'Head Heart Hand'. It is now happening in March 2015 and all the omens are good.

That only leaves me to mention the headline artists - Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin. To be honest they did exactly that which I have come to expect.
They came, they played, they conquered but they are no conquistadors for they do it with guileless style rather than with fire and sword. If there were any present that hadn't seen this live and remain unconverted then I have to say its a bit like cooking mussels - if they haven't opened up after a few minutes then they were probably already dead.

Their latest studio LP 'Mynd' (2013) is excellent but, and it is relevant here, equally so is their 2014 release 'Live In Calstock' and it was recorded at another venue about as small as this. One of the best live acts in the UK today; it is as simple as that.

One more thing is that you can see another of the very best at the same venue on 9 November! Marnhull Acoustic Sessions presents The Moulettes. All six of them accompanied by even more instruments, often large ones, on that same small stage. You can see them supporting Bellowhead too, and you should do that, but I guarantee that it won't be an atmosphere quite like this and you may never be able to see them in a venue as small as this again. Tickets are £11 (including £1 booking fee).

Behind The Castle Festival 2014 - Part 3 - and on it goes

That I can fill three posts with the result of ten-and-a-half hours live music says a great deal about what was on offer at Behind The Castle 2014 (BTC). There are a couple of acts that I don't mention and simply because I didn't get to listen to, see and photograph everything!
One case in point was Steve Knightly on Stage 2, which was the busiest that venue was all day. That said I saw him recently on his on-going tour of village halls and covered that here. I headed to the MAS stage to catch Dorset duo Ninebarrow instead.

I have seen Ninebarrow live before but could listen all day.

The album 'While The Blackthorn Burns' was released in April 2014.

The same ability to listen also applies to the next artist, also on the MAS stage, who I have never seen live before. Indeed, before the BTC line-up was revealed I was quite unaware of Lizzyspit. This is another fine example of why I like festivals so much.

Arresting original songs and a fine interpreter of others' songs.

If I had to choose just one highlight, and I strongly think that many others shared my opinion here, it would be Megan Henwood and her band on Stage 2 in the early evening. The new songs, from the forthcoming album 'Head, Heart, Hand', are so good and the whole set was a delight.  I couldn't tear myself away and this is why I didn't get to see any of the set by Tinderbox. I'll just have to wait until North Dorset Folk Festival on October 25, 2014.

I haven't even mentioned Rodney Branigan yet...

New Music 2014 - Part 13 - The Best of British

The principal feature that these four acts have in common is that I have seen all of them live at least twice and therefore, although only one of the albums has already been released, I reckon I have a pretty solid grounding in what to expect.

The first is the début LP from Dorset-based acoustic duo Ninebarrow.

'While the Blackthorn Burns' is the only one that has had a full release (26 April 2014, on the band's own Ninebarrow label) and the only one that is acoustic folk, both original and traditional songs. In the few weeks since release it has garnered much attention and praise; I have it on good authority that a track from it will feature on Mike Harding's Folk Show this coming Sunday (18 May, but also available on-line 24/7/365). I would not be surprised to see it nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2015 in due course.
Bold Sir Rylas is one of the traditional songs, seen performed at Purbeck Folk Festival 2013. This version is from the sold-out album launch at The Lighthouse, Poole.
  Bold Sir Rylas has much in common with the song Matty Groves, although the details as to how the the working man is betrayed and the names of the Noble Gentleman are many and various. Alela Diane has recorded a stunning version of Matty Groves and I commented on it here, having seen her perform it live with Alina Hardin at EOTR 2009. It was also released on a six-track 33 rpm 10" vinyl EP, 'Alela & Alina' (Family/Names Records, FAM001, 2009) that I have. While it certainly is good, Bold Sir Rylas is not what is going to make the reputation of 'While the Blackthorn Burns'. The new and original songs will do that.
The second LP on this list is also a début.

'The Midnight Novel' is the work of singer-songwriter Chl0ë Warren from Somerset and is released to the world on 2 June 2014. It is not folk. Bits and pieces can be found on-line, including Chloë with her previous band South Divide. I saw South Divide play in Frome late last year and was impressed enough to mention that here. For that matter I took some pictures too.

Voice aside, her instrument of choice is keyboards and 'The Midnight Novel' will be no exception.

The next two, although not released yet, are not début albums and so it becomes easier to judge them by previous releases. This is not always a good plan, because things can change for better or for worse, but in both these cases I feel that the omens are very promising indeed.
This next is a very good example of just why festivals matter so much to me. I was heading from one "must see" act to another one on a different stage and arrived just in time to see the last five minutes of a set by a band that was simply not on my radar. My thought, within seconds, is that something special is going on here. I was right, as it happens; it turned out to be The Moulettes.

My opportunity to make amends for this came at North Dorset Folk Festival 2012 - the first of its kind.

'Constellations' is their third LP and it is released by Navigator Records on 2 June 2014.

Completing this musical journey is an album for which I currently have no cover image available but, and please believe me here,  the music will not disappoint.

This will give a taste of the theme, however, of the forthcoming album by Jennifer Crook Trio.

Westbury Station, Wiltshire, 2013.

It does not have the iconic clock, nor the 'Brief Encounter' association.

The album 'Carnforth Station' will be released in the early autumn of 2014. 

North Dorset Folk Festival 2013 - Part 1

Let me make this clear right from the start. While last year's inaugural NDFF was excellent (see here) this was better on any and all objective measures that I can think of. It was indeed only matched by one or two other days in music that I have experienced in the preceding year. Now I need to try and explain why. It is likely to involve more than one post.
This year, at Marnhull Village Hall, North Dorset Folk Festival commenced with Bob Burke. He was to be seen at North Dorset Folk Festival last year too, if you remember, appearing with Tinderbox. This time he was solo and while his blend of acoustic singer-song writing is ample, it is better show-cased live by his in inter-song banter about the road-trips shared with his teenage son and suchlike. It seemed infectious too, and that it is a very important aspect of folk music of all kinds.
He did, however, suffer from a perennial problem of mine - that being that right at the start of any event I have an inability to take worthwhile photographs. I don't know why this is so, but it is true. I've tried several suggested remedies but none has proven to be in any sense reliable. It is not unfamiliarity with the venue, because it happens at ones I know very well, and at least as it seems to me not nervousness as it doesn't feel that way to me at the time. 

Bob Burke - North Dorset Folk Festival 2013.

The next on stage was James Findlay - winner of the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award. This set was for the most part composed of traditional material and always performed to the highest calibre. Sometimes he accompanied himself on any one of a variety of instruments, other songs he sung unaccompanied.

The next to play was duo Ninebarrow, who are local and hail from Swanage, Dorset. Ninebarrow is a hill topped with ancient burial barrows in that locality and to which many legends and superstitions are attached. Their song writing is mostly about places and times but that which sets them apart is their vocal harmonies. 

I had never seen or heard Ninebarrow live before and it was a pleasure to do so. You can stream some of their songs here - but I wholeheartedly recommend seeing them live. They are currently recording a new album too.
As regards the next act I have an admission to make - I had never even heard of it before it was announced to be playing. ODi is another duo - who both sing and play stringed instruments and sometimes a small piano accordion. This is ODi live last Saturday afternoon.

They were mighty impressive, and Dave Readfearn's contribution is absolutely vital, but the secret weapon is Claire Odlum's song writing and astonishing voice. A native of Co. Wexford, where not much of interest happens apparently, she has certainly made good use of her time there. ODi may yet not be that widely known but I suggest that this is just a matter of time. Listen to some songs here. The craic, and the all-round stage presence, is already there too.