I really like Carnivorine. It’s not in the least what I expected and that in itself is no bad thing. The Celtic Harper is actually Andrew Smith, based in Calderdale, and this is his debut album. Supporting musicians include Becky Taylor, Alana Middleton, Sami Javid and the enigmatic Gus – have you noticed how bass players tend to be…fill in the blank for yourselves. The harp isn’t the dominant instrument although it is present on all the songs so what we have is a variant of folk-rock which rolls along in splendid fashion.
Andrew opens with the title track led by Becky’s Uilleann pipes. I presume that the song is inspired by Lucy Hamilton Hooper’s 1889 novel – a sort of Victorian Little Shop Of Horrors – of course, I could be wrong. The next two tracks, ‘William Smith’ and ‘Goodbye Emerald Isle’ are both songs of the potato famine and Irish emigration and it felt like we could be in for a mini-folk opera. This proves not to be the case as next is an unpleasant song – in the sense of its storyline – ‘The Outlier’, a song for social outcasts everywhere.
The harp takes the lead on ‘Feeling Lonely In Love’ and then Andrew switches to the tradition with ‘Long Lankin’ (printed on the cover as Larkin). The harp dominates with Becky’s flute and Alana’s violin and backing vocals providing eerie decoration. The songwriting covers a lot of ground: a song of lost love; a description of the worst Christmas ever (it’s a long story); a possibly supernatural story of death and a memory of a summer in Scarborough follow.
The mysterious ‘Siren’ is followed by a setting of Thomas Moore’s ‘The Last Rose Of Summer’ with the harp again dominating. ‘I’m Moving On’ is another song of failed love as is ‘Live Like It’s Summer’. It gets a bit weird again with ‘Cernunnos’, the story of meeting with the Celtic horned god – or is it just imagination – which turns into a call to protect the environment. It leads neatly into ‘Letting In The Light’ celebrating the end of winter.
Carnivorine demonstrates The Celtic Harper’s talent for melody and his imaginative lyrics. His arrangements are equally imaginative and he possesses a distinctive voice with his Yorkshire accent bursting through here and there. This is a fine debut.
Dai Jeffries
Artist’s website: https://thecelticharper.com/
‘Long Lankin’ – official video:
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