EOTR 2013 - more from the Garden Stage - Part 2

As the title might suggest this continues directly on from my previous post. One thing I should add is that, for all the wonderful things that go on at the other stages, the Garden Stage is probably my favourite and certainly so for photography.
Here, early on Saturday afternoon, is someone probably better known as a producer of other people's records - including Laura Marling's last three albums - 'I Speak Because I Can' (2010), 'A Creature I Don't Know' (2011) and 'Once I Was An Eagle' (2013) but the only time I had previously seen him play live was (twice) at Latitude 2010 as a guitarist in Sir Tom Jones' live band when the latter was performing the album 'Praise and Blame', which Ethan Johns also produced. In fact he produced much of The Staves début album 'Dead and Born and Grown' too (see previous post).

EOTR likes tying things in knots, which only adds to the fun!

Whilst clearly busy with all of that Ethan Johns is also a sometime songwriter, singer and (mostly) guitar player and his set on the Garden Stage was all about that and his recent album 'If Not Now Then When'. On the other hand some of the prickly critics of such reinvention failed to curl up in a ball and proved to be rather soft-centered; PopMatters was just one such and they did not stand alone.
This however did not give us real insight into Ethan Johns' own music, although logic surely suggested roughly where it might lie. It is true that this assumption was not confounded but - and this is a very important but - neither was it derivative or a pastiche of any of the aforementioned artists. This is important in the evolving relationship between UK and US music and I shall return to it later - probably towards the end of this year.

The next is another band I had not seen before, and they do hail from the US, but the story of how the band came to be is as remarkable as it is improbable.

The Barr Brothers.

    

In one way perhaps the biggest winner on this stage was Fossil Collective. The band unexpectedly opened proceedings at noon on Saturday because Jessica Pratt (not to be confused with the Australian classical soprano singer with the same name) was unable to play songs from her self-titled début LP. Fossil Collective also played their booked set on the Tipi Stage late the same evening of course. I saw all of both sets making them one of the few acts I have ever seen perform full live sets twice in the same calendar day. Many, but far from all, songs came from the album 'Tell Where I Lie' (2013). You could likely write reams on the influences this band may have but then so could I and you might not want that. The point is, if it sounds good, does it actually matter?

It doesn't. Here is Fossil Collective, Garden Stage, End of The Road 2013.

Latitude - but not as you think I might know it...

This was quite some surprise. That he was quite the ultimate professional, something I had assumed, was still not enough to prepare me for this!

I'm not funny about artists, new or old, but this was something else. The BBC reviewer, to be found there and quoted on Amazon.co.uk, doesn't like "Praise and Blame" (the album) one little bit.
I'm going to differ vehemently and I'm far from the only one I think...  Here is a link to a review of the Latitude performances:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R16N85EJNS9YVV/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

The photo is mine, from his Obelisk Stage set on Sunday lunch time in the sunshine, and he is singing John Lee Hooker's 'Burning Hell' as it happens! The denim clad guitarist on the left is in fact Ethan Johns, who produced the album (and also Laura Marling's latest). I was lucky enough to experience both sets in their entirety - the 'Stage In The Woods' on Thursday evening was less favoured in terms of location, weather and acoustics - and about that I agree with the reviewer in almost all respects.

The remarkable caveat is this: It was performed live by all, and only, those artists who appeared on the studio recording (but they are not all in this shot).  It was one of the best live performances of the weekend and that is saying something...

What is more, pigs have learned to fly!   NME carried a review of Praise and Blame that was all the former, an impassioned defence of the concept and execution, married to an 8/10 rating.  I rather think that this would not have happened under the old editorial diktat and all credit to Krissi Murison and her team for putting the relevance back in the magazine in less than a year.

One album, two possibilities - and it fails on both counts.

I doubt that I would have bothered to try to drive through the snow in order to get to work today were it not that this album was in the CD autochanger. If it had been indoors I would have just stayed at home instead (like, as it turned out, almost everybody else). It took me so long to get to work that I was actually able to listen to it once-and-a-half-times and, at over 43 minutes, it is not short. It is my first received album release of 2009 and so it is obviously my favourite, but I think it likely to remain one and if the rest come up to this standard then it is going to be a year to remember.

An album with such ambitious intent could quite easily have become arch and pretentious or, on the other hand, just another formulaic indie-pop-rock cross-over. I think it does neither hence the title of the post - the music and lyrics are both very strong throughout but, ultimately, it is the singer that makes the song and sometimes so much more than that which is merely written.

Nina Persson demonstrates that facility in spades.

It is very different to the music she made with 'The Cardigans' or indeed her duet with Sir Tom Jones - a cover of 'The White Stripes' Burning Down The House. She also duets on Your Love Alone Is Not Enough with the 'Manic Street Preachers' and that appeared on the Manic Street Preachers' album Send Away The Tigers (2007).

I've listened to Colonia twice more at home this evening. The best general description I can muster is that it is equally comforting and disturbing and I'm certainly not getting bored of it. As for my favourite tracks that is truly no easier to say than after the first time I listened to it. That is the sign of a really good album - if you want three then try these:

• The Crowning
• Love Has Left The Room
• My America

The achievement no less remarkable is this: it is never obvious just what an incredible tightrope this album actually treads. It involves both Nathan Larson, her husband who is better known for film music and it shows to great effect, and fellow Swede Niklas Fisk. Joan Wasser (Antony and the Johnsons and, perhaps more importantly, Joan As Policewoman) also provides violin and viola.

Just buy it!

In Europe, except Scandinavia, it is released on CD by Reveal Records (REVEAL 50), the inlay booklet contains all the lyrics and this album will also be available on vinyl. In the US it currently only available on import, handled by 101 Distribution, but available from amazon.com at a price.