HANNAH JAMES AND TOBY KUHN – Where All Our Names Belong (JigDoll Records JDR004)

Where All Our Names Belong is the second collaboration between singer, accordionist, sansula player and dancer Hannah James and cellist Toby Kuhn. It’s a lovely album housed in a uniquely shaped booklet and Hannah and Toby play every note themselves. In fact, I kept checking to see if there wasn’t someone else on board. It’s a record that is at once simple and complex, the product of two expert musicians in sympathy with each other.

The first track is the traditional ‘Lonesome Woods’ which, over a cello drone, begins conventionally enough. Then at the two-minute mark it becomes an accordion/cello duet punctuated by Hannah’s foot percussion. Second is ‘Apple Tree’, a song which emphasises the album’s theme of belonging. Hannah’s words describe a sort of meeting at a bus station: she was going home to somewhere safe and warm and he was struggling to get somewhere – an extended metaphor. The songs freely mix lyrics with instrumental passages and as ‘Dancefloor’ begins you suspect it might be an instrumental but somewhere near the middle the verses appear.

‘Chicken’ is a delightful piece of…what? Hannah begins by stating that “This is not a political song” which may not actually be true. It is, in fact, about a barnyard rooster who struts about full of his own importance as though he owns the place and causes the sun to rise. The fact that he is described as proud and orange may cast doubts the veracity of the first line. ‘The Weaver’ is Hannah’s reworking of a traditional tale which may be of Lakota origin, a song encompassing renewal and survival. The accompaniment is Toby’s plucked cello composition which may be called ‘Red And Blue’.

‘Soft Edges’ begins with the notes of the sansula and talks of impending motherhood and is paired with Toby’s ‘Into The Light’. At last we do have an instrumental. ‘Jezza’ is written by the duo and may be about a cat – it does have the sinuous feel of an animal padding around the place. ‘Forest’ was written for a lepidopterist but it goes deeper than that. ‘Upstairs At The Star’ is the second instrumental – it’s about a folk club and the community, the sense of belonging that it engenders. Finally, comes ‘Rising’, a mysterious song encompassing witchcraft and the renewal of the world in spring. I think that’s what it is but you’ll take from it what you will.

As I said before, Where All Our Names Belong is a lovely album. When I played it first while pottering at other tasks it seemed to be over before I knew it had started. The second time I concentrated rather harder but it is a record that will sweep you away if you let it.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: https://hannahjamesmusic.com/hannah-james-and-toby-kuhn/

‘Lonesome Woods’ – official video:

---

We all give our spare time to run folking.com. Our aim has always been to keep folking a free service for our visitors, artists, PR agencies and tour promoters. If you wish help out and donate something (running costs currently funded by Paul Miles), please click the PayPal link below to send us a small one off payment or a monthly contribution.

---