Wide Range "Forevermore"
Own label, 2022
Wide Range, five musicians from Hamburg, use the subtitle „Irish Folk and More“, and not without reason. The first song on this album is very English and about Robin Hood and such things, wonderful choir singing, by the way. Later we find US-influences, for example Cajun sequences. Tune no. 3 has a Breton title but sadly turns out to be an instrumental. A truly lovely instrumental, but hopes to hear some Breton get disappointed, and the same goes for the Irish language. They only sing in English. Wide Range offer a colourful mixture of old favourites and lesser known pieces, such as Breton „Morfa frenhines“ (from pure passion for nitpicking: the correct spelling is „morfa’r“, it means „The Queen’s marshland“). Slow tunes and fast tunes, haunting rhythms which could be heard on any mediaeval fayre. Among the old favourites there is „Galway Races“, it’s fun to campare Wild Range’s version with Noel Murphy’s classical one. Just as it’s fun to listen to the whole CD.
© Gabriele Haefs
Des Geyers Schwarzer Haufen "Von Spielleut‘ und Vaganten"
Own label, 2022
With a name like this you expect roaring stomping songs, but no, the songs are very melodious, and the the song which the band owes its name to is not even included („Florian Geyer and his black pack“, Florian Geyer was a leading figure in the peasant upheavals of the late middleages). The cover photo already shows the way: the three
gentlemen from the black pack are immaculately dressed in white. They play an amazing amount of instruments, mostly such as already were known at the time of the peasant upheavals. We can hear classical allusions as well es influences from Folk Rock, wonderfully varied music, both songs and instrumentals. The songs are taken from many sources, like Barzaz Breizh from 1839, the first waybreaking collection of Breton songs. There the song is called „An Alar’c“, but the Breton swan in the German version was replaced by an eagle. We can listen to texts by Heinrich Heine and Adolf Glaßbrenner, set to music, and François Villon is present as well, of course. Even Ludwig van Beethoven joins the black pack, even though the marmot from his song was replaced by wandering musicians. Never mind, it’s a wonderful album!
© Gabriele Haefs
Wolf & Clover "Twelve Month and a Day"
Own label, 2022
At first sight the album does not look attractive: It’s one of those with an artfully designed cover which you can only read with the help of a magnifying glass. Some infos are to be found on the website, which helps a bit of the way. And listening to the music then makes up for it all. Wolf & Clover, a six piece band, are from Columbus/Georgia, and dedicate their work to Irish music. They sound like they have listened a lot to band oft he late 1970s, like the Bothy Band, which is a very pleasant surprise. All members have studied music, which probably explains the amount of instruments they play, absolutely impressive is tinwhistle virtuoso Chris Walton. Wolf & Clover sing in English and Irish, another pleasant surprise, their version of „An rógaire dubh“ („The black rogue“) is simply wonderful. They love well-known songs which they don’t sing to the usual tune, for example „The Unquiet Grave“. And towards the end of the album everything is different and they take an excursion into what in the late 1970s was called „New Age“.
© Gabriele Haefs
Hushman "Hushman"
Own label, 2022
Hushman’s name in civilian life is Ewan McPherson, he was born in Liverpool, but, the name tells it all, he’s got Scottish forebears. Today he’s living in Edinburgh and is a houshold name in several of this city’s music scenes. He writes his songs himself, the exception on this CD being a dramatical ballad from Sweden: a jealous brother tries to prevent his sister from marrying the young king, a wonderful song with a chorus and everything else (and a rare song with a happy-end, as well). The album does not start in such a folky vein, the first song is very synth-pop like, as if written by Hushman on an overdose of a-ha, but don’t give up, the second song („She climbs the Munroes“) has same Gaelic words. Hushman sings in a very quiet way (Nomen est omen?), sings softly even in dramatical circumstances, like in „Bite of fire“. Wonderful music, definitely addictive.
© Gabriele Haefs
David Munyon "Hong Kong Bob’s - Echo, Alabama"
Own label, 2022
The first recordings for this new album by songwriter and guitar-player from Alabama were made as early as 2017 – why they were put on ice for such a long time is not explained, but apparently it did them no harm. Later multi-instrumentalist Ian Melrose and singers Katja Werker and Kerstin Blodig joined the fun and add maturity and volume. Most songs were written by David Munyon himself, at least we can think so (a curse on the creative booklet!), they all have a melancholic undertone, no matter whether they are about love, about journeys old and new or two monks in Motel One. Lines like „Dance with me“ remind the reviewer of Leonard Cohan, and surely, this is
no mean comparison? An album which proves to have been well worth waiting for – and those among us who did not know the singer and therefore had not waited at all can enjoy getting to know him.
© Gabriele Haefs
Die Feuersteins "Los!"
Own label, 2020
Folk family Feuerstein with a Mini-CD, only five songs – seriously, Feuersteins? The album is dedicated tot he memory of their brother in song Fred Ape, wo died in 2020, and the songs are a nice mixture. The family’s own production is represented, and Carla Feuerstein shows her talents as a singer. One song is written by the uncomparable Dolly Parton, and the final song is „The Fox“, in a quite unusual speedy version, with instrumental hillbilly-accompaniment. Very nice, the whole thing, a bit more of that, next time, thank you so much.
© Gabriele Haefs
Jan Cornelius "Dagen flegen vörbi"
Own label, 2022
Eastfrisian songwriter Jan Cornelius with new songs, in one case the booklet is not clear as to who wrote it: Cornelius himself or his compatriot Martha Köppen-Böde? Never mind, all sonst are beautiful and melodious, and the Eastfrisian dialect of Low German is – so to speak – honey for the listening ears. And this says the jury fort he Wilhelmine-Siefkes-award, which is dealt out every four years: „He lends expression to the Low-German languages and develops it in many ways.“ Wilhelmine Siefkes (1890 – 1984) was a poet from East-Frisia who wrote in the language of her home country, but she
also spoke the Frisian language of the neighbouring Netherlands and translated from it. So it’s an award to make Jan Cornelius proud. The titlesong, „The days fly past“, show the way – time passes, we do to, unfortunately, life constantly paints new pictures and also brings good things, love, for example, even it is not reciprocated. Wonderful album to listen and listen and listen to and sink into.
© Gabriele Haefs
Wildes Holz "Grobe Schnitzer"
Own label, 2022
Wild Wood, great name, but the three gentlemen on the cover don’t look very wild, even thought they all have knives in their hands, uh-oh, dangerous. But they don’t succeed in looking threatening, and so we know we can expect conciliatory sounds. Which are wonderful! The trio plays guitar, double bass und mandoline, but most of all all sorts of flutes. On the cover it looks like they carve them themselves, but this remains their secret. The album holds loads of surprises – a piece byJoey Ramone played on the recorder? Crazy idea, but it works. The old Shadows-hit „Apache“ sounds very cheerful, not like the last call of a dying people. Wildes Holz succeed in making a pavane sound classical and severe and then all of a sudden like rock’n’roll and then again classical! „Love of the common people“, through the years recorded by so many singers, proves here that the song, which too often sounds like moralizing liquid saccharine, has a beautiful and complicated melody. In short, the listener gets enthusiastic and recommends the CD heartily to all readers of these lines.
© Gabriele Haefs
Rachel Walker & Aaron Jones "Despite the wind and rain"
Own label, 2022
Scottish women who changed the course of history are the subject of this album. Most of us probably will think of Mary Queen of Scots, who certainly never did much good, and then of no one else, but here we can learn a lot and fill some holes in our education. Both artists sing, Rachel Walker in an almost classical style, Aaron Jones rather folky, the two of them together simply devine. Some songs are in Gaelic, others in English, and we are introduced to many interesting ladies: Sgàthach, a warrior from the 3rd century, who had sent to her sons of noble families and taught them to fight with sword and spear, an astronomer, a sooth-sayer who advised kings, an anti-slavery activist, a suffragist and even a pirate: Gormshùil Mhòr, in English: The Great Gormule who could cpnjure up storms and sink enemy ships. As wonderful and fairytale-like as the name (meaning Blue Eye) is the music on the album, and the very well-made booklet offers a lot of information on the ladies introduced in the songs.
© Gabriele Haefs
Torgeir Vassik "Solo: A Place behind the gardens of the houses"
Own label, 2022
Torgeir Vassvik is from Northern Norway, or, as he likes to say, „from the Northernmost tip of continental Europe“, and his love and interest are dedicated to the native peoples of these areas and their music. Apparently he sees himself as a modern follower of the Sami’s noaids, and so he calls himself an „arctic sound magician“. He sings high, he sings extremely low, deep in his throat (sounds like a singing dragon), je yoiks and plays an incredible amount of instruments, like mandolin, guitar, gong, all
sorts of drums, igil and birbyné, instruments which we can listen to all too seldom in our own countries. The báiki in the album’s title is a Sami word, originally meaning „place“, but more specifically a place where people meet to sing and dance and celebrate. Other than that Vassvik has a weird preference for titles in German, like „Rosenrot“ and „Ein Lied“, without explaining the connection between song and title. Vassvik’s monumental canvass of sound does not invite to dance, but we are welcome to submerge and deepen and listen, listen, listen.
© Gabriele Haefs
Wikja "Touch the horizon"
Own label 2022
The male part of Swedish duo Wikja looks very vikingish, with his long braided beard, so immediately expectations are roused. Which are refuted immediately. The duo sing mostly in English, inspired by new-age things, about horizons and new worlds and the universe, it sounds like an esoteric version of the Bee Gees. Now and again we can discover a drop of country, folk elements are only to be found in one the two songs in Swedish, the one with the shortest text, which is repeated many times, and the chorus says: „We do it now, we walk through the universe here.“
© Gabriele Haefs
Regnvejrsdanser "Selsølåter: Sange fra Selsø Fjord"
GO Folk, 2022
„Rainy weather dancers“ is the name Svend-Erik Pedersen and Per Fjord, give to themselves, and in an interview they reveal that they had been dreaming for a long time about writing songs with roots in Danish and in general in Scandinavian traditions. The songs are now written, guests were invited into the studio and the album was recorded. And even though the music is served by rainy weather dances it’s a joy to the ears also in snow and fog. The subtitle says where they come from: Songs from the Selsøfjord.
But the songs are not only suited for all sorts of weather, but also for all sorts of landscape. We start with a Danish favourite subject, the hill oft he elves („Elverjøj“), garnished with Sven-Erik Pedersen’s marvellous fiddle-playing. Later on we are treated to typical Norse-choirsinging still to be found on the Faroe Islands, but with a text very much from today, we can listen to recitals, as we can expect from the country of Benny Andersen. There is a bit of country, (the info on the cover does not tell us which of the female guest singers sings which song), with Dolly Parton as godmother, there are hammering rhythms, like those used by the Electric Folk Bands of the 1970s. We see. lots of action in rainy weather on the Selsø Fjord.
© Gabriele Haefs
Nina Åkerblom Nielsen "Tid"
Kakafon, 2022
Swedish songwriter Nina Åkerblom Nielsen loves the music of the late middle ages and the renaissance as well as the Swedish traditions, and all these penchants we find on the new album, her second, by the way. All songs were written by her and they all hold some Swedish and mediaeval/renaissance elements. But at the same time everything sounds very much of today and typically Swedish (well, „typically Swedish“ for the foreign ear …). „Time“ is the album’s name, and it starts with a „September song“. September with its colourful leaves is followed by bitter winter which covers everything with snow, but then a new year begins and brings new promises. The songs follow the cycle of the year and the cycle in human life. Both cycles are strongly influenced by love and friendship and the ever growing need for rain. Nina Åkerblom Nielsen sings
and plays piano, and is joined by several studio guests on among other instruments violin, accordeon, cello and guitar.
© Gabriele Haefs
Greenrose Faire "Following the Wind"
Own label, 2021
Lovely cover, some sort of idealized landscapes in the Alps, a river is meandering through the valley, and we see the back of a troubadoura with her lute. Quite easy now to expect mediaevel romances, but no. Finnish band Greenrose Faire likes folkrock and puts a lot of steam into their music. Though they are from Finland they sing in English, and the Finnish pronunciation (choppy, and never a voiced s) goes well along with the hard rhythms. All texts were written by the band members, and often they use motives from old ballads and traditions; song titles such as „The Tale of Scallawag Joe“ or „Henry Hard-Luck“ indicate the direction. The press-sheets tells us a tale about „Celtic Rock“ but the „Celtic“ bit can only be discovered with an extremely strong magnifying glass. Loans from bluegrass are quite obvious, beautifully done in the aformentioned „Henry Hard-Luck“. The last track on the album, „The Eleventh Hour“, sounds like a modern shanty. So all in all they are a highly interesting new acquaintance.
© Gabriele Haefs
Eamonn Flynn "Anywhere but home"
Oen label, 2022
Eamonn Flynn is from Dublin, lives in San Francisco and presents a new CD on which he wrote all songs himself, more or less. The info-sheet within the album’s cover is a bit confusing. Legendary Dublin street singer Zosimus (+1846) is quoted, but was the whole song written by him, or just some lines? And Eamonn Flynn has a tendency towards false labelling, Irish song titles like „Baila Átha Cliath“ or „An t-Oileán Thiar“ make you want to listen, but then he only sings in English. But frustration left aside, it’s
a CD well worth listening to. Eamonn Flynn’s voice and style of singing remind a bit of Christy Moore, but he also plays Wurlitzer piano, Hammond organ and accordeon. Not all songs are folky, there is some pop to be found, sometimes Kieran Halpin seems to hover in the background, but all the time Todd Denman’s uilleann pipes make the album a great joy to listen to.
© Gabriele Haefs
