In loving memory of our co-founder, Darren Beech (4/08/1967 to 25/03/2021)

JUDE EDWIN-SCOTT – Birdsong (Bellyheaed 9 BH09CD10)

BirdsongJude Edwin-Scott is a new name to me which is a surprise as this is something like his tenth album plus a couple of EPs. He’s a singer/songwriter/guitarist from the north-west. Birdsong is very much a one-man project – there are backing vocals on two tracks from Ellen Edwin-Scott who is a story-teller and workshop leader in real life.

The album opens with the first of two instrumentals, ‘Balmaclellan’, which is named for a village in the Galloway Hills. It’s a vibrant piece, designed to grab the attention straight away. I looked the place up, of course, and apart from the fact that its Wikipedia entry is in Scots it seems to be remarkably unexciting. I mention this because the theme of the album is about courage in adversity so I was expecting to discover some great catastrophe but no. It was a centre of the Covenanters, hard-line 17th century presbyterians, but I don’t think that counts. He follows that with his own setting of ‘Nancy Of Yarmouth’ in which the peril does not involve the titular Nancy but her sailor sweetheart.

A good description of Jude’s writing might be “oblique”. He doesn’t tackle his subject head-on but gives us plenty to unpick before reaching the meat of his subject. The first all-original song is ‘S.O.S.’ which talks of flowering fruit trees and pirates but is about the struggles of migrants and refugees. Nice guitar picking on this one. ‘Walter Thomas’ is about the Great War but takes its time setting the scene before Walter’s story begins. ‘The Rose Of New Orleans’ is based on a real incident after Hurricane Katrina but the actual story Jude tells is much more involved. This might be the best track on the album.

‘Aberdovey Sands’ is a pretty song about a place where nothing exciting happened. It surely means a lot to Jude and he follows it with the second instrumental, ‘Planxty Davis’, for the gentler heart of the set. As a subject for song, Amelia Earhart, has been honoured twice before so Jude’s song might be considered superfluous but the intrepid aviator is really a motif for his musings on love and freedom. ‘Seagull Song’ is another deeply metaphorical contemplation, this time on war and the subject is possibly Ukraine but there are so many wars vying for our attention. ‘Call My Name’ is about Ernest Shackleton but following the pattern, it’s not until the third verse that the familiar story begins. Finally, ‘The Heron’ appears to be a love song but is there a context unknown to the listener?

I find myself fascinated by Jude’s approach to songwriting which contrasts with his style of performance. There is no way that Birdsong can be listened to casually; there is so much to unpick and you’ll even have to search the booklet for a reference to the album title. For that alone it’s worthy of your attention.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: https://judeedwinscott.com/

‘The Heron’ – live:

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