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Folk, rock. It is a shock to realise just how long the boy Lakeman has been on the boards, this being a 13th release, since he first ploughed a solo course in 2002. The boy? Well, as the youngest of the three Lakeman brothers, once their eponymous trio and Equation were done and dusted, he seemed the slowest to find full traction without them. Arguably, now he is probably the best known of the three, hobnobbing with the great and good along the way, as a band member of, first, Robert Plant’s Sensational Shape Shifters, and then, more recently, playing for Van Morrison. (And Public Service Broadcasting!) This baker’s dozen completist release is in some senses, a step back, but I might prefer to suggest it a step back forward. Again reverting to an own label cottage production, it feels that he has returned full circle to his West Country roots, but, with this time, he having the gravitas and experience to fill better those boots. Too Harsh? Die hard fans might say so, but I speak as newly (re)converted. I won’t be alone. DIGGING DEEP Digging deep into the heritage of his home county, these 10 songs maintain a mystic narrative between moors and sea, dredging up equal parts folklore with history, often somewhere between. Recorded within the space of a week, Lakeman has surrounded himself with kindred spirits, as adept on their instruments as is he on fiddle and viola, and there is a sense of instancy and freshness, lifting the sound out of any studio sterility, no chance of spontanaeity being sapped. They are Benji Kirkpatrick (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin and harmonica), Ben Nicholls (double bass and electric bass), Cormac Byrne (percussion and bodhrán), and Alex Hart (vocals), with additional studio contributions from Archie Churchill Moss on accordion and Danny Crimp on whistles. Lakeman himself plays, additionally, guitar and bouzouki. Did I mention his voice? Always a peculiarly characteristic instrument, past acquaintance has had me sometime feel it forced. None of that here; his idiosyncrasies are as comfortable as the boots earlier mentioned. LIFEBOAT TALES Louisa opens proceedings, telling a tale we know well, that of the the overnight and overland travail of the eponymous lifeboat, from Lynmouth to Portlock Weir. The same event as celebrated by Skinny Lister’s 13 Miles, this is a no less rousing version, if tackling the events of that night, a century and a quarter ago with an even livelier melody, fiddle and accordion driving the way forward. A little reminiscent of Steve Earle’s Devils Right Hand, this is no bad thing, and will be a stonking start to any show. One More Before You Go is then an acoustic jangle of bouzouki and mandolin, a song about friends and family, with a tang of the Levellers at their most bucolic. Lakeman is packing his own production here, but has clearly been taking notes from brother Sean, who, as well as producing his younger brother’s first few releases, is now the in demand man for more than just that Brighton band. MURDER BALLADS You can’t go wrong with a murder ballad, and Charlotte Dymond doesn’t miss a step. she the victim of an 1844 slaying on Bodmin Moor. Sung through the voice of her sweetheart, unusually, for this sort of tale, he was not responsible, as he recounts the later grim discovery of her corpse. None of your usual taking her for a swan or a raven, it is a gaunt and affecting song, with a classic construction. Alex Hart adds clarion clear backing vocals for this instant win of a song, a co-write between Lakeman and Stewart Murphy, with the vast majority of the album otherwise credited solely to Lakeman alone, with an occasional hand from trad.arr. The Black Fox then sweeps in on waves of fiddle and percussion. A casual listen might suggest this a song around fox hunting, what with mention of spurs and hounds, and pursuit of the fox, the chase is actually to prevent the slaughter. The black fox of Dartmoor is a fabled supernatural being, now emblematic of the anti hunting movement. There is a great section, midsong, where the guitars and fiddle switch and shear in harmony, evoking a pell mell scamper. Lakeman and band sound fully in command and control, a confidence of confederacy, many with years of working with him: “We ride we will run, we will chase the morning sun“. Huntsmen clearly fare badly in Lakeman’s world, as the protagonist, during The Huntsman And The Moon, finds out, caught out by Old CrocKern, the Devil Huntsman of Dartmoor. With a drifting melody and arrangement, there is a full sense of moonlit terror on the moorside. A HIGHPOINT COMETH That the next song should be called The Gallows Tree comes as little surprise. No obvious relation to his old boss’s Gallows Pole, this conjures up a call and response between Joshua and his unnamed visitor, with echoes, in style, of Matty Groves, with even the tune reminiscent of the Shady Grove snatch by the Cropredy codgers. The band bubble along with fiddle drones, banjo, box and what sound like clattering morris sticks to buoy it along, and it is a highpoint. The first of two co-writes with Reg Meuross follows, with Slow Down a gentle paean to the better of living life in the slow lane. If we are going to look for links, and it seems we are, a criticism might be a rather to close semblance between the verses here with Richard Thompson’s Beeswing, if then lost for the choruses, as it surges into orchestral pastoralism, casting a fair old spell on these ears. (To be fair, I’m uncertain how original the tune was in the first place mind, given this is essentially folk music!) MIDTEMPO TO POSITIVELY BOUNCING By way of further reflection on a similar theme, Come And Go is a rural rustic mid-tempo roustabout. I’m struck, once more, how well Lakeman’s voice has matured, and how well it matches this musical set-up, itching to hear these songs play out on the road. From mid-tempo to positively bouncing, Born To The Strain is the second Meuross collaboration, another song with the clang and clutter we now think of as celtic punk, the whistle at the front underlining just that point. With lots of room for loose live extension, this has the promise of stretching out in the live setting. One to close the set with, then, even down to the hollered 1,2,3,4, as it ganders up into a finale. But, rather than finishing at that obvious end point, Lakeman can’t but resist adding one final reflective rumination. Roll Back The Years brings everything back to ground and into focus: “Roll on the rippling waves, roll on the blue, roll the years back to a life we once knew“. The irony is that he has never sounded better, he suiting his touch of grey. CEMENTED IN THE PANTHEON Yes, this is a very good set, a great one, even. It should even cement his place in the pantheon, the transition from eager young turk, that picture now a little overegged, to the sort of established artist who can make or break a festival, now worthy of his position at the top of the bill. (I shy, yet, from elder statesman….). But just make sure he brings his band along, mind, as their shine adds no end of gloss to his alone. Tracks: 1. Louisa (4:09) 2. One More Before You Go (4:06) 3. Charlotte Dymond (4:10) 4. The Black Fox (3:51) 5. The Huntsman and the Moon (5:17) 6. The Gallows Tree (3:43) 7. Slow Down (4:57) 8. Come and Go (4:04) 9. Born to the Strain (4:11) 10. Roll Back the Years (5:31) Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO-hi4oZ-A4
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