Collective Perspective 2022
Glamour In The Grey
A flock of homespun folk tunes, flying from Yorkshire and Scotland and back again, lands on solid ground to bloom.
There’s a proper reason to worry when the first piece on a freshly baked platter sounds as if it wouldn’t feel out of place on “Liege & Lief” – and “All I Planted” which opens “Glamour In The Grey” does exactly that – because how will an unknown band follow such a strong gambit? No need to fret, though, as this ensemble’s full-length debut has more rustic wonders – original numbers and traditional songs equally populated with memorable characters, as dictated by folk canon – under the record’s urbanistic-looking cover. And no surprise, either, as, emerging seemingly out of ether, the five musicians behind them are all seasoned players – and still, awe is guaranteed to haunt the listener’s soul after the old-timey, exhilarating finale “I Ain’t Going Nowhere” states this collective came here to stay.
Building an imposing wall of sound out of Tom A. Wright’s multi-instrumental magnificence which Nancy Kerr’s voice and fiddle penetrate with graceful force on the riff-flaunting “Wassail” and “The Gay Goshawk” to soar on the electric strings that are anchored by Alex Hunter’s supple bass moves, while “Don’t Leave The Door Open” pulses with a contemporary vibe letting Findlay Napier’s vocals and licks sculpt an exciting groove before passing the melodic baton to Martin Simpson to turn “Pans Of Biscuits” into an eternity-embracing paean to communal sores. But if Findlay’s “Tough As Teddy Gardner” picks up where “Smoke On The Water” left off and contrasts his initially deadpan delivery with simmering, organ-oiled arrangement, three of the group’s singers calm the drift down when their lines interweave in the steely cold “Long Gone”; yet if Simpson’s simple, no-frills handling of Mike Waterson’s Russian-shaped “Jack Frost” should chill the flow even further, an understated choir creating majestic uplift along the way, the finely filigreed “The Cutty Wren” marries, elegantly and passionately, ages of yore to present glories.
It’s impossible not to fall under the spell of “Glamour In The Grey” and impossible to break the platter’s charm to live without its miracles. A debut to shame many other debuts.
*****
