New Music 2018 - Part 3 - Laura Cannell - Hunter Huntress Hawker

I mentioned this yesterday. Towards the end of 2017 I started a Friday spot on Facebook in which I mention a music release that has captured my attention. I'm planning to revive that idea after the break for Christmas and New Year although perhaps not every week. I rather like the idea of more blog posts but the two are not incompatible by any means.  To date it has been a very recent release but I'm thinking that this should not always be the case.

Hunter Huntress Hawker - Laura Cannell (Brawl Records, 20 October 2017).

This album (it is actually her fourth) is one that, while I mentioned it on Facebook, has not appeared here before. You may find it challenging but I'm not going to apologise for that. It has two key-words that might be used to describe it that tend to put people off  -  experimental and improvised.
It was recorded live in a ruined church (St. Andrew, Covehithe, Suffolk) that is the only significant structure that remains of a one-thriving fishing community on the east coast of England, the rest of which has now been almost entirely claimed by coastal erosion.
Half-an-hour of truly haunting over-bowed violin playing might just make the cold and damp of early January seem rewarding. I have wavered about choosing a tune (for they are all thus, there are no words). I decided on this:

The penultimate item on the collection - Nordhalla.

New Music 2017 - Part 12 - Threaded - Of What We Spoke

First off,  this is their début album from 2015, so not 2017. The reason I am including it here is that having managed to avoid discovering it for eighteen months or so and I'm guessing I might not be the only one.
Secondly, I really like it and I feel that it is too good not to share. Suffice to say 'Threaded' is another act on my list of priorities to see play live.

All classically trained at the Birmingham Conservatoire, Threaded comprises:

• Jamie Rutherford - vocals, guitar
• Ning-ning Li - violin
• Rosie Bott - clarinet

Their music is contemporary folk, both tunes and songs, not least for the inclusion of clarinet. As far as I am aware these are all new compositions but if I'm wrong about that please let me know.  This is the track list:

1. The Living Room
2. Left Off
3. Captain Markham
4. A Secret Charm
5. Dreamfire
6. Mr. & Mrs. Jones
7. Drafted
8. The Courtyard
9. Flat 71
10. Return to Penpole Wood
11. Crosse/Parrack
12. You Will Always Be The One

This is a taste of what to expect.

New Music 2015 - Part 62 - Joni Fuller - Letters From The West Coast EP

Having heard her song 'The Penny' several times in passing and, given my self-imposed New Year resolution to listen to more new music and music that is new to me, I naturally felt compelled to investigate further. The result only served to confirm why I decided to do this.

It is one of four songs on Joni Fuller's self-released 'Songs From The West Coast' EP.

Simply being called Joni might in some ways be seen as a bit of an albatross for someone planning on making a mark in acoustic music. Not so it seems and indeed the title of the EP, which is actually not her first, plays cleverly on that too. The West Coast in question is not that of the USA but that of England - specifically Lancashire - as she is from St. Annes-on-Sea that is one half of an urban area usually known as Lytham St. Annes and famous for its golf links.

What makes this music stand out from the rest, and the Lancashire coast is producing plenty of good artists (Karima Francis, Rae Morris, Little Boots and Låpsley being four others) just at the moment, is her use of live looping to allow her to play solo but sound like a band. What marks her out from those I mention below is that, whilst she loops all of them, her principal instrument is the violin.
I think its popularity in this milieu, it has long been used in hip hop and such, has benefited from its use by Ed Sheeran and I have also mentioned Bristol-based Daisy Chapman's use of it several times in the past. It makes for compulsive live performance as it is something fascinating to observe, as well as hear, and so Joni Fuller is added to my list of ones to see live as a matter of urgency.

Here is 'The Penny':

Live and not at all local...

'Thoughts on Music' is taking a time-out for a couple of days. It will return early next week. Rather than mull over last night's BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, which I considered doing, I will hold that comment over until next week.
I decided upon sharing this instead. In a way it is more vital.
I have mentioned 'Free The Honey' before and whilst purveyors of for the most part Appalachian music that is not to say that gypsy fiddle and more beside will not be included, for they are. The four band members - Katherine Taylor, Jenny Hill, Lizzy Plotkin and now made complete by Andrew Cameron (upright bass) come from a wide milieu but are all based in the high mountains - Gunnison, in western Colorado. Free The Honey is working towards a début LP.
This was a support set to further that project. You will have to suffer, or fast-forward, the rambling introduction but that has nothing to do with the band. We have all been there, I'm sure, in similar circumstances. I'd recommend that you start 7 minutes 19 seconds in.

Once you get to the music they play nine songs or tunes; it is a delight.

Free The Honey is currently recording the band's début album, which is scheduled for release in September. As yet untitled it can be pre-ordered here, including signed copies.
The pound Sterling reached a three-month high against the US dollar at the end of the week, so of course I took advantage of that!

Alright Dynamite - Music I Want in 2009, Part 8

Ooh, just listen!
The Canadian multi-tasking, collective-inspired, ethic is still alive and well I am delighted to report.

A member of Canadian band 'The Paperboys' and also part of the collective 'Outlaw Social' - she plays with both - this is Kendel Carson's second solo album and, as well as being a redoubtable fiddle and violin player, she is a fine vocalist too.

I mentioned Amy Millan's alt-country début solo album 'Honey From The Tombs' (2006) a long time ago and so I now can't wait to hear this too. Nor can I deny my curiosity about Millan's second solo album, currently being recorded I believe. Both of Carson's were largely written and produced by Chip Taylor, with input by Carrie Rodriguez, and that is hardly likely to be a bad thing. The first was this album and I want it too.

Rearview Mirror Tears (2007)