What a month it has been for folk, with great gigs and new albums looming for review. But here on folk tracks the big excitement has been in the variety of songs and tunes coming the way of our ears. Old song forms given a new shape, lively musical collaborations, folk taking possession of mainstream music and folk digging deep into traditions. And an old favourite to finish with. All musical life is here (well, almost).
Let’s start with something that’s simply astonishing – Spitzer Space Telescope might sound like a prog-rock band, but by all that’s good they are actually a folk artist of the arse-kicking variety. Born and raised in St John’s, Michigan, but now based in London Spitzer Space Telescope is the musical moniker of professional oil painter Dan MacDonald and ‘Midwest Tribute Song‘ is taken from the looming release ‘Spitzer Space Telescope II .‘ It’s a shanty of the first water, albeit a shanty that concerns itself solely with things ashore, as Spitzer Space Telescope elucidates: “Identity, nationalism, and heritage. The only thing left to say on this song is, to quote that great Pecker Dunne line, ‘[…] a man must feel affection for the town where he was born.”
Another name that falls into the unusual category is Travels With Brindle, the ukulele power-pop band of Chelsea Spear. The inspiration to record ‘Number One Song In Heaven’ came from catching Sparks as a pick-me-up after losing the temp job she loved and discovering that the anticipated follow-up project to the 2023 record ‘Notes From Undergrad‘ had fallen through. As Chelsea explains: “Watching the joy in their performance reconnected me with why I made music – a few days later, I was listening to No. 1 in Heaven while making dinner and the melodic and rhythmic similarities between the songs on the album and the music of early 20th century vaudeville and music hall struck me. I also wanted to work on something that would make me happy, and the original No. 1 in Heaven is one of my favourite albums.”
‘The World That I Knew’ is a collaborative album from VARO, working with the pick of the contemporary folk scene in Ireland. Lucie Azconaga and Consuelo Nerea Breschi (A.K.A. VARO) say of their new single ‘Red Robin‘, which features harpist Alannah Thorburgh, that: “We learned this song from a 1977 recording of Mikey Kelleher (1907-1987), found in an online collection of songs from County Clare. We immediately fell in love with the melody and lyrics, which describes a state of mind rather than a real story. It seemed to paint a paysage of melancholy, memories and loneliness, and at the same time of extreme human warmth and connection with the elements of nature. Working with Alannah has been an absolute pleasure, she’s insanely talented and the loveliest woman. The harp perfectly creates this soft melancholic and emotional sound we were looking for.”
There’s a trace of the strong English folk rock influence on the new song ‘Something Different‘ from Lost Chimes which also brings in more modern sounds on a song that has an urgent appeal to build something new, and even stronger, on the foundations of an already long and lasting relationship. New paths needing a new recommitment. Well, that’s love for you. Lost Chimes are duo Gemma and Nicky Kirk and they are releasing their album ‘Now I Swim‘ in mid June.
Scottish singer Quinie is releasing her third album ‘Forefowk Mind Me‘ on May 24th. The first single is, like the album, sung in Scots – one of Scotland’s three official languages along with Gaelic and English. Of her singing style Quinie says: “I began singing unaccompanied Scots Song in 2015 after hearing Scots Traveller singer Sheila Stewart on the radio. Initially I felt like I shouldn’t sing these songs because I’m not a Traveller, and I saw people around me doing that in a way that made me uncomfortable. But on the other hand this music made sense to me and I felt driven to learn. Over the years I have met Traveller friends who taught me that settled people sharing these songs could contribute to raising awareness. Scottish Travellers are marginalised and discriminated against in modern Scotland, despite being custodians of so many of our important traditions. So I started to perform them and tell this story. From there I built on my repertoire and started writing my own songs”.
And as ever we get to the final Classic Folk Track pick, and for no reason that I can identify there’s been a lot of John Renbourn playing recently – and it’s all so great to hear again. So let’s finish with the title track of the 1976 solo album ‘The Hermit‘.
