SARAH DEERE-JONES – Wild Harp (own label FPCD012)

Wild Harp opens with a strange, other-worldly sound. It’s that of an Aeolian harp recorded in the stone circle at Castlerigg in Cumbria and it’s the wild harp of the title. Over it, Sarah Deere-Jones plays an improvisation on an electric harp. Sarah is a harpist who also sings and plays guitar, whistle and keyboards and a composer with an experimental turn of mind.

Wind has a major role to play on this album – so much so that one track, ‘Whispers’, is credited as a duet for harp and wind turbine with the swoosh of the great blades underpinning Sarah’s harp composition. The second track is a setting of Chopin’s piano prelude in A^b minor for the concert harp accompanied by a 19^th century Aeolian harp from the Wordsworth museum. Chopin’s prelude is also known as ‘The Eolian Harp’.

The sounds of the country also feature heavily. ‘Bird On A Briar’ has the clear notes of a song thrush and ‘The Cuckoo’…well, you can work it out. Sarah even has the sound of a bittern on the 13^th century song, ‘Miri It Is’, with the Aeolian harp recorded in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey and the sound of seals on ‘Sealsong’. There are three other songs in the set. The first, ‘Breaths’, has words by Senegalese poet, Birago Diop, and in the context of the album as a whole it’s a touch bright for me. ‘Blou Northern Wynd’ is sung by the Exeter University Chapel Choir and is gorgeous while Sarah herself sings ‘Blow The Wind Southerly’.

Wild Harp is a wonderful piece of musical escapism and invention – something to drift away to on a winter evening.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: www.aeolian-harpist.co.uk

‘Breaths’ – official video:

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