Timely release of long lost album from revered folk trio.
No pressure then. You’re a budding modern folk act starting your career in the mid-nineties – three musicians hoping for the best. Then suddenly your music is heard by none other than legendary Nick Drake producer Joe Boyd – who said that the band were the first British act he’d loved in 30 years. The band were a trio consisting of Andy Allan, Piano Pace and a daughter Lily Ramona from Allan’s previous releationship. Now there’s some pretty impressive lineage here – Allan played with The Sex Pistols after Sid Vicious dies and was in Lightning Raiders and The Professionals and Lily’s mum was a member of The Slits. Allan’s dad was a TV legend – Elkan Allen – who produced and created Ready Steady Go!
So we’re now in the late nineties and Boyd produced their debut album ‘Bareback’ which was well received, but stardom eluded them. and ‘Half Smile’, their second Boyd-produced album, followed in 2000 and whilst they made some impact in America, healthy sales and success didn’t come their way. Following this, sadly, Allan and Pace split up and the band were forced to disband.
A third album – ‘Fiveways’ – was recorded before the band split up – and finally over twenty years after it’s recording the album is at last getting a deserved release. Their performances were renowned for their intense feel and the harmonies were stunning. This fourteen-track release captures the trio in splendid form. Piano’s voice is superb – think Suzanne Vega meets Tracey Thorn – and you can tell Allan is a seasoned musician – Lily’s backing vocals and drumming adds real depth.
Opener ‘Arrows’ is a wonderful tune with Pace’s ethereal vocals instantly grabbing attention and some gorgeous guitar strumming keeping the tune alive and assured. ‘Logic’ has some gloriously pensive lyrics and beautifully haunting guitar work. The fact that this is an album from a couple about to split haunts the music and is best demonstrated on ‘Nut’ – “you had me when I was sweet as a nut, not sweet enough”. Their live act apparently included infamous argumentative banter between the couple and this sort of tension imbues these tracks. Another standout is ‘Daddy’ with more cracking guitar strumming and lovely percussion surrounding Pace’s vocals.
This is a strong set of modern folk songs and even now you can see why Boyd was so impressed with the trio – it’s great to see the album finally getting a release and it sounds as strong now as it did two decades ago.
