Feather Edgelarks
Dragonfly Roots Records Release date May 17th 2019
Edgelarks are a duo comprised of
Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin. Winners of the “Best Duo”
category in 2014's Radio Two Folk Awards, “Feather”
is their fifth studio
album. They were nominated in the same category again in 2016 and
2018. Rated (a little improbably?) by Mike Harding as “one
of the best duos on the planet,”
they are valued highly also by Iain Anderson and The Guv'nor
himself, Mark Radcliffe.
Approaching this new album without
having read such accolades and without prejudice, it is still an
impressive and thoughtful piece of work:the powerful cumulative
result of two musical forces working collaboratively together.
They are both impeccable musicians. I
really enjoyed Henry's solo album released last year, “True
North.” So much so, that
I rated it ninth in the Anker Folk Top 50 albums of 2018, released
and broadcast in 2019. His guitar work is by turns moody and
expressive and is always exemplary. On this album, Hannah supplements
his work on dobro,steel guitar and harmonica by adding her own
virtuosity on banjo and fiddle. But it is the timbre of her voice
that is the final, potent ingredient. It is redolent at times of June
Tabor or Joni Mitchell. That good-it is an instrument she uses to
great effect.
The album was produced by Mark Tucker
and Henry himself. It was recorded as late as last December and
during January 2019 at the Green Room in Devon. It was mixed and
mastered there and also at ARC studios,Eynsham. (Hope nobody poached
their tunes?). Arrangements are by Phillip Henry. All ten songs are
original bar an innovative reworking of “Spencer
The Rover.”
“ Wander” fairly
rocks along,a foot-tapping homage to travel and exploration.
“Oyster” is
more maritime than Transport for London,a mysterious piece with some
eerie sound effects. Is that percussive background beat the marching
feet of Oysters? Or the massed band of ticket collectors snapping
hole punches? Do Oysters even have feet? It is a track that poses
more questions than answers.
There
are echoes of Ewan MacColl and his Railway ballads, there are May
Days and Tors,Standing stones and moorlands, ice creams and
holidays-really there is far too much crammed in to describe fairly
here. In the nicest possible way,it is like a beach full of flotsam
and jetsam:a place where you can pick things out,turn them over and
examine them and perhaps keep something for later.
The
album's release pre-empts an 18 date U.K. Tour which begins in Bath
on May 16th
and ends at Towcester in June. Refreshingly,
Feather
is, (as its title suggests),cheerful and upbeat. A welcome break from
the stygian gloom of dungeons, collieries, crowded quaysides, prisons
and ships' holds featured in the repertoire of so many Folk artistes.
The sleeve notes describe the contents as “songs
for tired hearts,troubled minds and soulsick wanderers. Songs of
Hope.” God knows,in our
turbulent world at present, there is a niche for a few more of
these?
