Earlier this year Dainty Records (“the world’s most fragile recording company”) released a A New Weird UK Sampler which could be downloaded free from Last.Fm. The initiative,not to say realism, of distributing their music in this way is to be applauded as it gives unknown names a unique global platform.
As for the music itself, well, the songs were pleasant enough but it left me wondering how they were defining ‘weird’ and what connection the label thought there was between these assembled artists and the likes of Matt Valentine, Charalambides or even the more accessible Devendra Banhart. On top of this, it was hard to detect any uniquely UK edge to the sound. Frankly, it all sounded worthy but a bit dull.
In marked contrast comes a release to rejoice in. ‘Carbeth’ by Trembling Bells on Honest Jons Records is, I think, destined to be a benchmark album for liberated Brit-folk everywhere.
The Glasgow based band’s goal is set out on their My Space page. They want “to reanimate the psychic landscapes of Great Britain and relocate them to some vague, mythic land where basic human crises are encountered and conquered via a love for canonical rock, traditional folk and Earlie Musik” This is, in other words, no common or garden Merrie Olde maypole swinging fayre. Instead of giving us an airbrushed evocation of heritage culture this is a band who positively revel in earthier Pagan/Celtic traditions.
The key driving force for the band is Alex Neilson whose extraordinary free-drumming skills have been sought after by some of cutting edge artists in the US and UK including Will Oldham, Richard Youngs, Ben Chasny Alasdair Roberts, Jandek and Josephine Foster.
While Alex retains a strong interest in improvisational music (witness his recent collaboration with saxophonist Greg Kelley ) Carbeth is strictly song-based.
The album captures the vitality and eccentricity of groundbreaking British folk bands like Fairport Convention and The Incredible String Band without pandering to nostalgic quaintness or straying into the field of reverential revivalism. Past glories are a springboard for music which expresses a spirit of the now with a real urgency.
As a vocalist Alex Neilson wavers in and out of tune – as wonderfully pitch imperfect as Mike Heron was on classic Incredible String Band tracks like ‘A very cellular song’ . Lavinia Blackwall (vocals, keyboard, guitar) has played previously with Alex in Directing Hand. There her pure voice as instrument was striking, but this pales in comparison with the crystal clear beauty she produces on this record. This is particularly evident on the nearest thing to a title track: ‘Willows of Carbeth’.
Ben Reynolds (guitar, harmonica, vocals) has also played with Alex in various projects, notably Motor Ghost, and is an accomplished songwriter and solo guitarist in his own right. The remaining group members are Simon Shaw (bass, vocals), Aby Vuillamy (viola) and George Murray (trombone).
Trembling Bells make music to gladden the soul and put a spring in your step.
The Weird Brits are coming!
