Notes
From The Boat Mike Vass Unroofed Records
Released 27th July 2018
An innovative Scottish
composer and multi-instrumentalist with a big imagination, Mike Vass really
really REALLY likes boats.If you don't, then this album might
possibly not be for you. Having said that it's not too
technical and there is some very atmospheric music on it, featuring
some fine musicians. It stands alone as a nice album of traditional
music-whether one knows one's spinnaker from one's topsail or not.
Ten
musicians joined him during 2017 on his Dutch sailing vessel “Sweet
Harmony” whilst docked at Inverkip on the River Clyde. They take it
in turns to be the featured artiste on each of the ten tracks on this CD. The
album credits look like a Who's
Who of Scottish Folk Music.
The recordings feature not only the various instruments which Mike's chums
brought along with them, but a plethora of additional sound effects
mixed in mostly afterwards by Mike,too. VHF radio broadcasts,winches
being operated,decks being scrubbed;I'm sure a nautical expert could
identify them all individually.
Mike had four fiddle players aboard
including Anna Massie and Duncan Chisholm. Also featured on the
recordings are accordion,whistle,melodica ,harp, mandolin and guitars
Large items such as Grand piano and Kettledrums were out. (But how
did he get that harp played by Corrina Hewat on “Voices”,
through what he himself describes as “the
hatch on my wee boat?”).
This
is his first major album release since 2014. The tracks are all of an
agreeable length so that one is rarely bored or distracted. The
frequent sound bites could potentially be a little distracting but on
the contrary they fuse quite evocatively with the music. This is
largely down to the recording and mixing by Vass himself, and the
remastering by Iain Hutchinson.
The advance copy I received had a
“Listen Out For”
track-by-track guide included with the notes. This helped identify
the objects used on each track. Whether this will be included on the
final version (released 27th July) I do not know. The CD watch case
designed by Kim Richards came as a clever triple gate fold
sleeve,with a picture CD in the central pocket,making it look like a
porthole.
“Notes from The Boat”
is a unique and highly original idea,sensitively captured via a
quality recording. The cumulative effect is a very agreeable and
relaxing piece of music which one can listen to as an entire piece in
one go, or “dip into” sampling individual tracks.
Far
and Wide Nick Dow Old House Music
Those
who have never tried singing unaccompanied traditional folk songs in
public could easily be fooled by Nick Dow. He makes it seem
effortless. His pitch and timing are near perfect. But it's not at
all easy: I can vouch for that personally.
Many
people try their hand at it, and some like Nick are very good at it.
Others convince themselves that they have a penchant for it and they
tour our Folk Clubs doing floor spots and proving themselves wrong.
That having been said, there's a world of difference in producing a
flawless studio recording, and standing up in front of strangers
before launching into a sequence of songs with only a pitch pipe for
company.
But
I will lay my cards on the table. I like Nick Dow's voice and I
admire his material. I really enjoyed the last album of his I
reviewed, which was a “Best
Of”
compilation featuring work performed between 2012 and 2015. Nick is
to horses what Mike Vass is to sailing boats-but to his credit there
is very little reference to things equine here.
This
2018 album's content most certainly is “Far and Wide.” There are
shepherds,sailors and tailors.There are Military songs and Maritime
songs. Songs and tunes from Kent, Ireland,Sussex and Scotland. He
certainly works hard at collecting, refining and improving songs.
Nick
does not drone-a common mistake which many a capella singers fall
into. He uses intonation, phrasing and timing to emphasis particular
points in each of the many stories he is telling. ( At 14 tracks and
just over an hour long, it's a comprehensive collection). This is
heard to best effect in “Prince
Heathen,”
a terrible and brutal tale made even more dreadful by Nick's
passionate and dramatic delivery.
The
sleeve notes are as thorough as one might expect of such a
specialist. Technical details about the tunes and timings:background
to the research behind each piece:ancestry and history of each song
in the collection,and an acknowledgement to each of those who first
performed the original. The watch case and artwork is rudimentary and
workmanlike-much as the collection of songs enclosed within.
Sixty
minutes of the human voice, with not a musical instrument in
earshot-it requires some serious listening. I confess that I felt a
little bit punchy by the end of it all after my first hearing. Which
was in itself a tribute to the effort which this craftsman of the
vocal art puts into his work.
