Boat To Row + My First Tooth + Joe Summers @Hare & Hounds, 23rd November 2011
It was a comfortably punter-crammed Hare tonight and the gentle souls, one and all, (it is a Moseley Folk Promotion, after all) had evidently more than well attuned expectations regarding the dexterous folk/roots maneuvering and affectionate retro genre-morphing antics of the evening’s acts.
And, in the spirit of subverting conventions (and I’m sure I saw a pretty lass sipping Babycham through a straw) let’s start with the main act, Boat To Row. Whilst some of the more picky would have them as nu-Folk/alt/Celtic Country Roots (and any band with a female violinist seems covers most of those bases – and delightfully so) the Boaters are quite happy percolating any number of musical styles with twinkle-eyed innocence andeffervescent magpie cheeky assimilation. They amble on stage with Reservoir Dogs attitude – more village pond geese, actually, to the Twin Peaks theme (quite few other bands do that guys!) and drum-stick clickity clack intro with a military beat to ‘Old Scenes’ that segues in to delightful three part harmonies punctuated by Faye Haddon’s pizzicato violin and Ben Gilchrist’s shrewd bass-spaced counterpoint. They were launching their latest EP,‘Grass Markets’ whose tile track closed the main set. And was it ‘Priscilla & James’ that had an enticing Hebrew refrain with echoey banjo and flavours of Dylan in his ‘Desire’ period? There was fiddle-pickin’ and mandolin internal dialogues galore with complementary vocalisations from Ben and Co. A charming, inclusive band and just too damn nice for our own good.
Onstage setlist: Old Scenes (intro), Working Class, 114 Miles, Field Mouse, Priscilla & James, BTRTRTY, ‘Slow Jam’, Thimble & Thread, Freedom, Grass Markets, St. Wallis.
With middle act, My First Tooth, there’s a pick n’ mix eclecticism that each and every punter might have hazarded a guess at and still been none the wiser. There were certainly flavours of Celtic Soul and Waterboys jiggery-Poguery just for starters as they debuted several new songs ‘Claw to Club/ Heartbeat Retreat’ alongside established numbers from their album ‘Territories’. Their Meet The Folkers subtlety be damned, kick-ass hoedown with attitude, saw them blow wind in the face of caution and scorch through the set like banshees with PMT. All this driven by drummer, Gareth Amwel Jones’, asymmetric time signatures and Sophie Gaplin’s resin melting violin bowing. The splendidly named Ross K. Witt, vox/guitar has David Byrne reminiscent vocals and sports a Quixotic quiff. The closing number opened with a slushy shoobie-doobie woo that climaxed with siren-pitched harmonies and a bizarre suggestion that the Pixies and Pumpkins were playing at your Gran’s 85th birthday party. Now how weird is that? The image, not your Gran! And then think Noah & The Whale having swallowed Lindisfarne. You’re on your own with that one, mind. http://myfirsttooth.bandcamp.com/
Setlist: Claw to Club, Lexy Lay, Courthouse, Heartbeat Retreat, Sleet & Snow, Palace, Orchards, Dubrovnik, Silent Spring.
Now then, this chap Joe Summers, troubadour escapee from the crucible of Black Country hedonism, Walsall. He celebrates his Folk singer/songwriter heritage with jingle-jangle pride and insightful lyricism. Thoughts of Al Stewart, Bob Lind, Pete Atkin and Donovan’s crafted, anecdotal observations spring to mind. Add to this early Paul Simon’s haunting, sparse guitar picking circa ‘Wednesday Morning 3am’ period and you’ll get some idea where he’s coming from. Interesting how he often uses repeated verse line structures in a chorus – you can go back to medieval ballads for that and then some. There’s not ‘a filler’ song anywhere in the set and forced to choose a particular gem it would have to be ‘Monte Carlo’ a min-epic of textural richness. He was joined by his bubbly younger sister who charmed us with her harmonies on ‘Turn The Boat Around’. Don’t think all of this is duffle-coat, pipe and beard stroking serious, mind. Check-out the delicious pith-taking ‘This New Rave Scene (don’t mean a lot to me.)’ Closer ‘This Holy Fire’ was just damn magnificent. Joe Summers’ the name. Has guitar – will travel far: you dig?
Setlist (approx from notes!) ‘…I take it all back’, If You Ever Start, Monte Carlo, On My Way Down, In Your Eyes, New Rave Scene, Turn The Boat Around, Glorious Day, This Holy Fire.
Review – John Kennedy
Photos – Ian Dunn