Ancient
and modern forces meet for a richly elegiac take on English folk.
As usual over winter I've ended up with
a backlog of music to write about. Christmas, the usual bouts of
family illness, work commitments and the shorter hours of daylight
and resulting tiredness always seem to conspire against me. The
result is less time and energy to devote to writing. So first an
apology to the amazing musicians and labels that have sent me music
recently. I have however had lots of great albums to listen to and
absorb, this release by Stick In The Wheel being one brilliant
example.
It's the band's second mixtape release,
following on from 2018's This and The Memory of This. These
mixtape releases are an opportunity for the core duo of Nicola Kearey
and Ian Carter (EAN) to collaborate with guest players, either using
their own material as a starting point, or remixing and adding to
music created by the guest musicians. The duo also have two studio
albums to their name – From Here (2018), and Follow Them
True (2018). I confess to being unfamiliar with their previous
work so this record marks my first encounter with Stick In The Wheel.
Their music is rooted in the melodies
of traditional English folk music, but this is no backward yearning
for car-less yesterday. Each track has a seam of of modern electronic
music. Drones, strange beat-less pulses push each track into strange
new territories. A strong melancholy permeates the album, which
features appearances and collaborations with artists such as
experimental folk guitarist C Joynes, Jack Sharp (Wolf People), and
folk-punk outfit Cinder Well. Using
mostly traditional material as their staring point the album contains
versions 'Nine Herbs Charm', a 10th
century spell translated from Old English, the 14th
century alliterative poem 'Swarte Smiths, Smateryd With Smoke', and
an improvised take on Child ballad 'Georgie'. Also highly recommended
are the two bookending versions of 'Down In Yon Forest', which set
the medieval pagan theme that permeates the whole album.
One thing about music is that it can
compliment other things going on in your life, and chime perfectly
with landscape, seasons, weather, and even the moods accompanied by
your current reading habits. While enjoying the album over mid-winter
I was simultaneously reading Laurie Lee's As I Walked Out One
Midsummer Morning, his account of leaving his Gloucestershire
village in the 1930s, working as a labourer in London, then walking
through Spain, earning a living playing violin as he goes, at the
outset of the Spanish Civil War. While the traditional music of Spain
and Old England may not have too much in common there are parallels
to be drawn and highlighted here. Ditto the respective mood of the
nations. The sense of foreboding in Lee's book chimes with the
timeless melancholy found throughout Against The Loathsome Beyond.
Spain in the 1930s, along with contemporary Britain found themselves
divided and with dark forces emboldened. Both countries possess a
proud and stirring musical heritage, each infused with a passion
that's celebratory yet full of warning. Against The Loathsome
Beyond has been a strangely fitting accompaniment to Lee's book
and one I highly recommend to readers of this humble blog.
Click here for Stick In The Wheel's website.
Click here for Stick In The Wheel on Twitter.
Click here for Stick In The Wheel on Facebook.
Click here for Stick In The Wheel on Instagram.
Click here for From Here Records.
