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The Furrow Collective

Venue: The Atkinson
Town: Southport
Date: 26/02/14
Website: http://www.thefurrowcollective.co.uk

At this year's BBC Folk Awards, the prizes for best album and best band were won by a "supergroup", The Full English. Although we are only two months into 2014, I have a feeling that another "supergroup", namely, The Furrow Collective [who conveniently sit next, in alphabetical order, to The Full English on my iPod] are going to be major contenders for those awards next year.

The Furrow Collective are a quartet of some of our very best singers and musicians. From North of the Border we have Alasdair Roberts [vocals and guitar] and Rachel Newton [of The Shee, on vocals, harp and fiddle] whilst from South of the Border we have Emily Portman [vocals, concertina and banjo] and Lucy Farrell [viola and saw]. Or, in other words, The Emily Portman Trio plus Alasdair Roberts. The raison d'etre of the Collective is to perform some of the most magical, dark and haunting ballads in the folk repertoire in a subtle and beguiling manner. The songs they have chosen for their superb new album "At Our Next Meeting" deal with murder, disaster, witchcraft, hanging and the outlaws. In other words, the very essence of the Folk Tradition.

I was, indeed, fortunate that the Collective appeared at The Corduroy Folk Club @ The Atkinson in Southport tonight on the seventh and penultimate date of their February Launch Tour for the album [similarly, I was privileged to see The Full English at the same venue last year].

The Furrow Collective is, as its name suggests, a democratic organisation in which all the members take their turn in the limelight, there is no obvious leader. Tonight they performed their excellent album in its entirety, beginning with "the first outlaw song of the night", "Wild and Wicked Youth", which was beautifully sung by Lucy. This was followed by the second outlaw song, Alasdair's poignant rendition of "The Outlaw of the Hill", in which he told the sorry tale of Irish Highwayman William "Willy" Brennan, who was betrayed by "false-hearted Molly" and who ended up being hanged in County Cork.

Next, it was Rachel's turn to sing the popular Scottish song "Skippin' Barfit' Through the Heather", which she did superbly, accompanied by Alasdair's intricately-picked acoustic guitar.

One of my favourite tracks on the new album is "King Henry", a tale of witchcraft and humanity, the moral of which appears to be [as Emily told us] "give women what they want and you will be rewarded". I remember this somewhat gory tale from the rocked up electric version on Steeleye Span's 1972 album "Below The Salt". Suffice it to say that The Furrow Collective's version is rather more subtle and atmospheric than Steeleye's. Emily took lead vocals and her banjo was gradually joined by the other instruments- guitar, harp and viola- to great effect. "King Henry" is a great story song and is the essence of what The Furrow Collective is all about.

From witchcraft we shifted our focus to the demon drink on the Scottish Temperance song "Johnny My Man" on which the Scottish contingent of Alasdair and Rachel provided impassioned vocals with a stark, plaintive accompaniment from Lucy on viola. On a more pastoral note, Lucy led the audience in singing the charming unaccompanied "I'd Rather Be Tending My Sheep".

When Emily and Lucy were living in Newcastle they used to sing sad songs to each other in their kitchen. They came to the conclusion that "Handsome Molly" and "Our Captain Calls" are, basically, the same song but from different perspectives, so they decided to do a "mash up" and merge the songs seamlessly together. This they have done to stunning effect as tonight's performance demonstrated.

On "The Blantyre Explosion", Alasdair related the tragic events of 22nd October 1877 when 207 miners died in Scotland's worst mining disaster. His chilling narration was complemented by the angelic chorus provided by Emily, Lucy and Rachel.

Continuing the theme of death, Lucy sang the mournful tale of "Henry Lee" who was stabbed by his jealous lover who then threw his body down her cruel well, all 50 fathoms deep. Lucy's crystal clear vocals were perfectly off-set by Rachel's haunting harp-playing.

On a slightly less morbid note, Alasdair led The Collective in the American folk hymn/spiritual "Wondrous Love", which dates back to 1811.

"Spooky" is the only word to describe Emily's superb version of "The Demon Lover" [also known as "The House Carpenter"]. Other-worldly and eerie sound effects were created by Lucy on bowed saw, Alasdair on wineglass guitar and Rachel on harp, which combined to conjure up a spine-chillingly supernatural backing to Emily's ethereal vocals.

Last, but by no means least, of the main set was Rachel's spirited version of the Child Ballad "Hind Horn" on which she enlisted the audience to join in on the insidiously catchy chorus.

Having performed the new album in its entirety [and brilliantly at that], what would the Collective do for an encore? The answer was - Packie Byrne's lovely "Lament to the Moon", which rounded off the evening in fine style.

I don't claim to be clairvoyant but my prediction is that when the "Best Of 2014" lists are being written at the end of the year, The Furrow Collective are going to feature prominently. If you can't get to see The Furrow Collective live, do try to hear the album because it is an absolute gem.

Peter Cowley
phtocredit:Mike Ainscoe