WILL FINN & ROSIE CALVERT – Fallow Alchemy (own label)

Fallow AlchemyThat’s fallow in the sense of resting as in the classic crop rotation system, so Fallow Alchemy is an album about the science of kicking back and taking life easy. Well, mostly. Taking your leisure can involve a lot of work. Will and Rosie are a husband and wife duo from Newcastle, formally of The Teacups, a cappella being their natural territory. They play steel pan, piano and ukulele which cover a lot of the upper register but they need the support of producer Pete Ord and Adam Stapleford at the bottom end with extra decoration from Bernie Armstrong’s banjo and Nicola Beazley on fiddle.

They open with the quintessential slackers’ theme, ‘Swimming Song’, with all the supporting cast joining in. ‘Daddy Fox’ is unaccompanied but one has the note all the travelling and evading capture that our hero has to do to bring the meal home. Like I said, taking it easy can be hard work. ‘Blue’ is an American song in praise of a dog that comes to a sad end with Will taking the lead vocal part and drums and banjo in support. ‘Leatherwing Bar’ is a traditional English song that was eagerly adopted in the USA where it was frequently recorded.

From the Americas we move to the classic British songwriting partnership of Rudyard Kipling and Peter Bellamy. ‘The Bee-Boy’s Song’ isn’t frequently visited these days so it’s nice to hear it here. I suppose it’s the bees who do all the work in this song. ‘The Trooper And The Maid’ is a classic tale of sporting and playing and, of course, the maid comes off second best. Will and Rosie deliver a particularly powerful unaccompanied performance. ‘Squirrel Is A Pretty Thing’ takes us back to the USA.

‘The Herring Song’ is a classic piece of traditional nonsense, perfect for shooting the breeze and Rosie’s steel pan gets what is almost a solo. Although it originated in the Cotswolds, Will and Rosie make ‘The Hornet And The Beetle’ sound quite American. It’s a warning about putting your faith in lawyers. ‘Bamfield’s John Vanden’, again unaccompanied, is from British Columbia and tells of an old fisherman which leads neatly into John Conolly’s ‘The Trawling Trade’. ‘Mariah’s Gone’, another exceptional a cappella performance, was collected in Kentucky by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles and I can only assume that it’s about death – the ultimate kick-back.

There is an instrumental set, ‘Wood’s Waltz/Oranges In Bloom/Beattie’s Waltz’, and finally Pete Seeger’s ‘Lady, What Do You Do All Day?’ which no doubt inspired John Kirkpatrick (and Frank Ingnobody) and puts the whole idea of leisure into some sort of perspective. Fallow Alchemy is a very clever and very enjoyable album – lots of good songs and original arrangements. Highly recommended.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: https://willfinnandrosiecalvert.com/

‘Swimming Song’ – live: