Clarinet and fiddle are a time honoured combination, the core feature of many an Eastern European town band, as well as being part of the tradition and expectation of Klezmer. Fiddle is, of course, integral to English and Celtic traditions alike, but the clarinet has never really latched much onto homegrown folk musics; here we tend to associate the instrument more with Acker Bilk and the other trad, namely jazz. (Or the only trad, as my editor has it.) Yet, together, they make for an engaging and exacting combination, inviting in the entirely different, yet similar, spectre of oboe and accordion. If this duo can revive the fortunes of this instrumental pairing, as did Sue Harris and John Kirkpatrick with the other, well, that would be quite something. And, given that is the standard of play found on Violet Sky, that is not in the least far-fetched.
Actually, their second release, following on from 2020’s Alors, On Danse, a live and semi-improvised set, this offers the opportunity for judicious use of additional guitar, whistle and harmonium, and is a mix of their own compositions, some by friends, with others drawn from various parts of Europe. As with the first record, dance is the integral feature, these all being tunes designed or derived with dancing in mind. You might also note the striking design, of the dove of peace, on the cover, this being painted by Helen Gentile, one half the duo.
We first cross the channel for a lively set of bourrées, each from the Limousin region of France, both in triple time. ‘La Courbiase’ and ‘La Pradinoise’. Gentile plays clarinet, and whilst much the play is in unison, she ekes out some countermelodies within the second tune. The fiddle of Lewis Wood is perhaps what you may call rhythm fiddle, scything repetitive shapes to keep metronomic time. Should you have been searching where you know the name, he is the fiddle meister over at Granny’s Attic, thus needing little other introduction.
A salvo of smoky clarinet opens ‘Triangle’, a brace of two tunes by Gentile. Wood is now on guitar, taking the arpeggiated melody forward after Gentile’s first few introductory bars, ahead the baton being passed back. The two parts, ‘Triangle An Dro’ and ‘Scottish Manouche’, perhaps demonstrate the still extant “Auld Alliance” between France, or Brittany in this context, and Scotland, but, actually, more that dances from either country fit equally well the meter. There is some subtle programming going on under the surface, this being the work of Alex Garden, the Tarren fiddle operative, who also produced and recorded all the music.
Lewis’s five time waltz, ‘Coffee And No One’ follows, and is a spritely round of, first, fiddle, with Gentile then slotting in alongside, to play in counterpoint and countermelody. It is lovely, smacking of a baroque celebratory dance. The paired tunes up next come each from the hand of Will Allen, a fiddle and box player and are each schottisches, that confusing titled slow polka style that, contrary to expectation, has little to do with Scotland. (From Bohemia, apparently!) ‘Temps Gris’ was inspired by the stormy skies over Sheppey, and ‘Pigeonhawk’ by a chase between a sparrowhawk and a pigeon, winner unknown. If this conflict of geographies is confusing, Allen is, amongst other engagements, a member of Club Débris, a band who specialise in Quebecois styles. I think that would be how I describe the medley, if a little less frantic and without the footstomping accompaniment.
Polskas seems always Scandi, and ‘Skrap-Ollas Polska’ is of old Swedish origin, and, verily, it scampers along. Skrapp-Olla was the player rather than a place, and if the clarinet is not a conventional conduit to deliver his work, well, it should be. And is now. The arrangement has all the feel of a small village band, playing by a frozen lake, in the snow, be-hatted and be-scarfed.
The title track is by Lewis and is a mazurka. As such, it gives off an appropriate aura of a stately Polish court, the clarinet feeling at home within the mood the duo conjure up. My ignorance suggests mazurkas are wilder and less controlled, but the tune suits the controlled tempo here. With the reassuring murmur of harmonium, also from Wood, through the most of this, as it slips away to just his fiddle, alone, it is wonderful. Which then allows the bubbling up and under of ‘Raspberry’ to canter off, joyfully. This is a further pair of bourées, written, one apiece, by Su Eaton and Claire Rose, hurdy-gurdy players from Hampshire both. I particularly like the stop-start nature of the second.
Gentile switches to whistle for the following two jigs, which segue together in a very vintage Albion Band fashion. ‘Ewes In Hell’ and ‘Wheel Lines’ their names, even if I only get the punnery of the first. Taking things right right back, ‘Four Forty-Five’ is an exquisite slow gavotte, picked out delectably on guitar by Lewis. When Gentile comes in, now back on reeds, it is as fine a tune as any heard this year. (For those needing to know, the title refers to the time, a.m., when any self-respecting insomniac may as well give up any idea of ever getting to sleep.)
Back to Brittany for ‘Kost Ar C’hoats’. Next to the wood, in English, the name a generic title for all dances in this particular step. Two of them here, each as exhausting sounding as each other. Which leaves time only for ‘Meditation’, the final offering, this time written by Gentile. So, a slow reflective piece, is it? Not quite, although I can see you could, if so inclined, meditating to the almost Middle Eastern vibe that gets thrown off, but, at the same time, you could process slowly, as if in a hypnagogic state. Which is how most bals look to me anyway, as an observer.
By now, two things should be apparent. The first of these has been already stated, the role of dance within and about this album. Each track fits well into any existing balfolk canon. The second is that I am not a dancer, that much obvious to aggrieved practitioners of the art, as I mangle my descriptions of their reason for living. But I am a listener, that point made as all the music here is as equally accessible to those with two left feet, one of each or none. So one I can wholeheartedly endorse this offering to all camps.
Seuras Og
Artist’s website: www.gentileandwood.com
‘Limousin Bourees’ – live:
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