Reviews
Artist:Four Hand Reel
Venue:Bournemouth Folk Club
Town:Bournemouth
Date:13/07/08
Website:http://www.bournemouthfolkclub.com/
The 13th isn't always unlucky, well it definitely wasn't for those of us lucky enough to be at Bournemouth Folk Club, for an all to rare appearance of local folk duo Four Hand Reel. Fear not if you weren't there, rumours persist of a follow up to their debut album, "Woven" in the not too distant future.
Named after a Dorset dance, Four Hand Reel, consisting of regular Bournemouth Folk Club soundman Andy Stone and Julian Gurr, surprised many in the audience by playing their entire set, stood up.
In my previous, shorter set, encounters with the band, they have played exclusively tunes, with a fuller set at their disposal they elected to throw a couple of songs into the mix. In addition for one of those songs they invited multi-instrumentalist, Kathy Burke, on stage to provide whistle. It gave an already dark song a more haunting atmosphere and as an experiment worked very well.
Four Hand Reel work in a traditional vein, drawing on local and more distant tunes, their own compositions work in almost seamlessly and it was one of those compositions that provided one of two exceptional highlights in an already very strong set.
Upton House is an old manor on the outskirts of Poole. It has sweeping gardens and vistas that take your view and if you fancy the walk, you, down to the sea. It's a magnificent house. These days it's a council building and used for wedding receptions and departmental meetings, but it used to be a family home.
Julian had found a reference in a document associated with the house about a former owner that felt the house had ceased to be a home for him when his wife had died. Julian's song was a great piece based upon the grief of the owner. It's still possible to see the burial plots of the people the song was written about and it seemingly organically linked, band, song and subject in a really moving piece.
The other stand out was a medley of songs written by a much neglected exponent of English tunes, Freddie Phillips. The tunes are so suited to mandolin and guitar and exceptionally executed. You may have forgotten who Freddie Phillips, if you even knew the name, but if you are of a certain age, the legend, "Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub" will bring it all back.
We were treated to a set of tunes based on the music from the classic tv series, Chigley, Trumpton and Camberwick Green. As the music started I looked around and there was a collective grin that swept across the faces of the audience.
Freddie Phillips was a genius, deceptively simple tunes that have become ingrained into English folklore and absolutely fantastic of Four Hand Reel to bring the author of those tunes back into the public ear.
Even with a fuller set than I'd previously heard them play, it still managed to sound criminally short. If you get the chance to see Four Hand Reel, take it, they don't seem to be out and about as often as they should be, but when they play it's always to great audience reaction.
It was a busy session in the club prior to Four Hand Reel, but in the interest of space, I'm only going to mention a couple. The night opened with a couple of songs from Andy's Daughter Aimee Newsome Stone, with Andy providing accompaniment on guitar, in his more usual seated position.
Aimee is becoming a more accomplished performer with every outing. She seems to be developing her stage craft as well as her voice. Her body becomes part of the delivery mechanism for her voice, adding character to the song and performance.
Aimee is becoming a regular performer at the folk club and hopefully will be out and about to a wider world soon.
Black Tulip were making only their second performance at Bournemouth Folk Club and their first under a new name. They are a trio of three female vocalists, performing mainly unaccompanied accapella.
The set started with a cover of the KT Tunstall standard, "Black Horse & A Cherry Tree" a song that stands up remarkably well to having the technology stripped away and being carried by voice.
The set also included another standard, "Fever" one of the world's most covered songs. There was a nervousness in the performance that will go with more exposure to a live audience, but they did the song justice.
The stand outs were covers of two songs from Canadian band, The Wailin' Jennys. Both of the songs from that band showed Black Tulip have a real potential and that I need to get my Wailin' Jenny cds out and re acquaint myself with the band.