Tag: We Carve Our Path

Claire Vine is one third of Hands Of The Heron but she leaves her bandmates behind for her solo album, We Carve Our Path, in favour of multi-tracking her own voice, a key element in the production. Support comes from Henry Edmonds, Tamsin Elliott, Luke Spurgeon and producer Sid Goldsmith but the record could best be described as minimalist, even fragile if Claire’s voice were not so clear and steady.

The record opens with two traditional songs. First comes ‘The Maid On The Shore’ and Claire’s arrangement and Edmonds’ synth emphasise the supernatural aspect of the story and concentrate on the maid where other versions of the tale centre on the captain’s perfidy as recounted in Martin Carthy’s version in which the seaman is not a nice chap. Next comes ‘Let No Man Steal Your Thyme’ which leans heavily on the version sung by June Tabor, itself a carefully curated amalgam of other variants.

The record is not entirely traditional and the first of Claire’s own compositions, ‘Eyes Wide Open’, gives the album its title. It is a plea for environmental sanity with lyrics that go directly to the heart of the matter. It is sung a cappella as is ‘Lost At Sea’ although Claire sings her own backing vocals which increase in intensity as the track progresses. Like ‘Eyes Wide Open’, it too is a song of social concern this time concerning immigrants and the way our society treats them.

Peggy Seeger wrote ‘When I Was Young’ back in the1960s and it shouldn’t be confused with other songs with the same title. Tamsin Elliott’s harp provides the accompaniment on a song that sounds traditional but the last lines give it away. Edmonds’ double-bass adds to ‘Thirty Years From Now’, a song looking forward to a future life and is the only track that doesn’t quite work in the absence of printed lyrics. It seems pessimistic but I could have misinterpreted what I heard.

It’s back to the traditional repertoire with ‘Fanny Blair’, seemingly appropriate in the current climate. Ewan MacColl wrote ‘Lullabye For The Times’ about school days, a theme that he returns to from time to time. It’s a gentle song compared with, say, ‘Schooldays Over’ except there is a twist and if you don’t know it I won’t spoil it for you. Elliott’s harp supplies the accompaniment to ‘Ceasefire’, a song about war which to me points up the idiocy of fighting for a ceasefire. It’s another song with contemporary resonance. Finally, Goldsmith adds his voice to ‘Song For Les’, a lament for a dead relative as a family gather together for an anniversary.

We Carve Our Path brings a different approach to the recording of a set of songs. Claire provides her own accompaniments using her own voice in complex arrangements with very little other input but just enough to add light and shade.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: https://claire-vine.co.uk/

‘Eyes Wide Open’ – live: