Reviews

Artist:Landermason + Support
Venue:Bournemouth Folk Club
Town:Bournemouth
Date:25/10/09
Website:www.myspace.com/landermason

For personal and work reasons it'd been a while since I last ventured down to my local folk club, but it doesn't take long for you to feel like you're back at home. I'd have been here last week to see Mawkin:Causley, but I'd managed to get the date wrong.

As it was tonight's main act, Landermason are a band that I've wanted to see play a full live set for quite a while. I've enjoyed both of the band's most recent albums and caught their short appearance as part of the Brian McNeill Session.

Landermason also appeared on the Fatea Showcase Session:Duos back in the Summer of 2008. Another duo that appeared on that session were local band The Douglas Firs who have the privilege of opening the evening.

Life seems to be treating the Douglas Firs well. Since I last saw them play, they have won prizes in a local unsigned acts competition and are starting to make a real impression on the wider music scene. It also adds to that feeling of being back in my live music home.

The Douglas Firs have definitely moved to the other side of the cusp they were teetering on, there's no hint of the nervousness that you could occasionally pick up in their earlier performances, this is a band that is now confident in their own ability.

It's not just on their older more familiar material, even when they are bringing in songs for their new album, which they're hoping to get into the studio to record soon, it has a positivity that suggests the apprenticeship is over and they are moving into the next phase of their career.

Gill Darbey is based in New Zealand, but was on a trip back to the home country and ended up playing a few songs for us. Gill had been in a folk rock band, Waterfall, who released a highly collectable album, "Three Birds" on obscure Cheltenham label Avada and "Beneath The Stars" on the equally obscure Gundog records.

Tonight, however, Gill was very much in a blues troubadour thing. At times I was reminded of local lass Lou Brown, not just because of the vocal style, but also due to her uncannily similar mannerisms.

Gill Darbey played some honest to goodness story based blues songs. One of these she dedicated to her son, whose still based over here and many thousands of miles away from his mother, most of the time.

Gill's set, though short, was sweet and bang on the nail. She's got a voice that's capable of going from nought to rip your ears off in the bat of an eye. She plays and sings with a real passion. It's not that often we're going to get a chance to see Gill, so I was really pleased to have chanced upon her. If you get the chance, go see!!

Headliners for the night were North East based duo Landermason, Fiona Lander and Paul Mason who are out and about promoting their new album, "Tree Of Souls". The title track for the album is a song about a tree in the north east that people have taken to hanging boots on.

The North East features extensively in their music, not just through their accents. Landermason are proud of their heritage and lavish attention on it, adding their own little folk jazz twists along the way.

"When The Boat Comes In" and "The Lambton Worm" are probably two of the best known songs that have made it out of the region and into the wider English psyche. The duo play both of them during the course of the set, adding a distinctive jazz swing along the way, for my money it really does the job on "When The Boat Comes In", but I think I prefer my "Lambton Worm" just a little more aggressive.

It's easy to see why Landermason have been making a name for themselves, both in the studio and live, they obviously enjoy what they're doing. They're not afraid to mix it up a bit and give their songs an alternative take. (They also run their own folk club, so if you're ever in the North East, look them up.)

It was the perfect way to round off the night. Great music and catching up with friends during the interval. Old songs and new songs, the familiar and the untried, it's what music should be about.

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