Monday 30 May 2011

Fish Records 'File Under Fiction' Review

Those of you who bought the fantastic previous album from Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers will need no second introduction to hear this; those of you who passed on that disc missed out on a fantastic collection, but have a chance to pick up on one of the most distinct and unique artists in British folk/roots music with ‘File Under Fiction’.

Labelled as ‘Scottish nu-folk’ that doesn’t even come close to adequately describing the band – they are uniquely Scottish and come broadly from the folk tradition, but they have as much in common, (and probably more) with the settings, biting lyrics and black humour of Elvis Costello and Loudon Wainwright as they do the thoughtful storytelling and delivery of modern Scottish folk acts such as Karine Polwart and Emily Smith.

The core of the band is Napier on vocals and guitar, Gillian Frame adding fiddle and vocals and Douglas Millar providing keyboards – the trio are joined by James Lindsay (Breabach) on bass, and percussion from Scott MacKay. It’s a flexible range of instruments and players that allow them to move from driving full-on songs through to considered acoustic arrangements with ease.

The album is melody led and full of irresistible hooks that capture your attention on the first listen, but the real meat is in the lyrics – this is storytelling and character portraits of the highest order from the lovesick librarian in the title track through to the lovestruck/dumbstruck magician in ‘Cutting her in Two’ the observations are sharp, full of warmth and honest. It’s obvious that Findlay and his writing partner Nick Turner are quite a team as the quality is maintained throughout with the range of songs on offer, and it all ends on a beautiful song by Frame that sums the album perfectly with instant melodies and deep lyrics.

Once again, Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers have come up with a stunning album; forget the label of Scottish nu-folk, this is an album of real quality in every area and it deserves to be heard. Not to be missed.

Go to the Fish Records site

Sunday 29 May 2011

Reasons to Be Cheerful pt. 4

If you're reading this on Facebook you're only getting half the story. Go to http://www.findlaynapier.blogspot.com

I've kept my mouth firmly closed on the subject for the last few weeks. I've had enough. The weather is fucking shit and it is pissing me off.

Last May I was up north at Watercolour Music with the Bar Room Mountaineers recording what was to become 'File Under Fiction'. We were taking breaks between sessions to go swimming in the River Scaddle.

In contrast this May has been spent hiding in the flat from nuclear winds, horizontal rain and hailstones. Hailstones are pointless, a half arsed waste of a good weather front. At least if it snowed properly we could either a) get a day off or b) go skiing.

"I don't like to moan but..." and that's how it always starts. Surely one is not moaning if one provides a solution to the problem? So let me creep from the negative into the locality of the positive via a pointless anecdote.
Landie in a normal Scottish Summer

I'm in the back of a Land Rover that smells of dog and damp climbing equipment somewhere on Kinveachy Estate at around midday on August (The Glorious) 12th 1997. Eight of us and three stinking black Labs are crammed into the rear compartment of a long wheel base Land Rover Defender waiting for the weather to clear. We had done two drives before lunch and animal rights activists will be pleased to hear that the guns had only managed to transform five wonders of nature into exploding balls of feathers, buckshot and blood.

We were going to squeeze another grouse-murdering drive in before lunch. I had already been struck in the face by an overzealous keeper trying to separate the dogs who had begun fighting in the crammed compartment. In his defence it was an accident. He was trying to separate his expensive, and in season, Lab bitch from three horny males using a five foot long metal shepherd's crook. Flailing this around in in the tightly packed compartment had only made things worse as some of the more stoic of the beaters were beginning to grumble under their breath.

The blow to the face came as a welcome reprise from the aggressive leg humping, savage barking and baring of teeth that had been going on since the eight beaters, three dogs and horny bitch had been pushed into the Landie for shelter twenty minutes ago.  My feet are wet and beginning the blister, condensation from the roof is dripping down the back of neck of my soaked through clothes but worse, so much worse, one of the less stoic beaters had cracked and begun openly moaning.

Two Labradors 'fighting'
Things were bad enough and this inarticulate twat felt that he not only needed to vocalise but also to share his feelings. His voice, whiny and unwelcome at the best of times, filled the space like over ripe blue cheese. We waited till he finished, eyes firmly focused on the ground teeth gritted. No one spoke. Someone shrugged. The uncomfortable and over long silence, underscored by the rain beating the side of the Landie and the panting Labs, was broken by one of the older keepers. Till this point his only words had been a half grunt half "get in" when he'd picked us up in the square at eight that morning. He twisted round in the front seat, facing his foulsmelling flock through the steamed glass partition. "I'll give you some advice son. No one likes a moaner. It's eight miles to Carrbridge and further to Grantown. Do you like walking son?" He didn't wait for an answer "Shut the fuck up then." He slammed the glass partition closed.

Here's a few things I keep at the front of my mind to distract me from the weather. Here are a few reasons to be cheerful including the song that inspired this idea.

1) It's good to be alive! Check out St Andrew and the Woolen Mill's album The Word on the Pavey.


2) This summer is going to be amazing. It will be sunny all day but will rain around three in the morning for about one hour to keep the place looking green. On all beaches around Scotland there will be a constant gentle offshore breeze and a decent swell, at least big enough for longboarding.

3) There is an SNP majority in the Scottish Parliament. Don't let the little blue bits down the bottom bother you. Think of it as the bad shit settling at the bottom of good bottle of wine. I loved this article by Leslie Riddoch for The Grauniad... Who Are You Calling Dour?

Hardcore: Winter Surfer in Scotland
4) There are plenty of things to do in Scotland that don't require good weather. I'm referring to surfing, kite surfing, wind surfing, kayaking, canoeing and things where you're soaking wet anyway.





 5) There are loads of great music festivals coming up. I refer you back to point two. I'd recommend you head along to these two... not just because I'm going to be there with The Bar Room Mountaineers but because everyone's been telling me how great they are.

The Insider

Belladrum 2011 The Tartan Heart





6) It's not really on message but I often use this gem to cheer myself up. We invented whisky. We, Scotland, invented it... and it's amazing. NB. I expect some comments on this one because I think as a nation we invented some other important things but this is the one that makes me smile the most. Just one more time folks... We invented whisky.


7) I'm not sitting in here any longer. I'm putting on my waterproofs, scarf, wool hat and a pair of stout waterproof boots and I'm going outside to enjoy the shitty weather. If you're staying in read Leslie's article listen to this video and put your shoes on... and no one likes a moaner.

Bright Young Folk Review

A review of File Under Fiction that appeared on the Bright Young Folk site.

As soon as the opening chords of this album come crashing out of your speakers, you know that your ears are in for a treat. 

Findlay and his band deliver a selection of songs about drinking and partying in a gutsy and sometimes earthy manner. Added to Findlay’s raw vocal style, are the fiddle and vocals of Gillian Frame and the keyboards and vocals of Douglas Miller. On this album the band is also joined by drummer Scott Mackay and bassist James Lindsay (Breabach).

Song titles like One for the Ditch and Raise a Glass leave you in no doubt that drinking is dear to their hearts, whilst Cut Me Off (about a restraining order) may not be a song to play to a maiden aunt.
The songs are full of energy, with the title track, File Under Fiction, providing a strong opening. It’s not all wild partying though - there are gentler moments, with Gillian taking the lead vocals on One for Me and this brings the album to a quiet and romantic close after the wildness of the previous tracks.
 

A really exciting listen, and a band worth looking out for.

You can find Shelley Rainey's review and loads of other great stuff at Bright Young Folk's site.

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Shetland Folk Festival Review from The Scotsman

Published Date: 04 May 2011
Fabulously idiosyncratic, the Shetland Folk Festival again proved a showcase of Scottish island culture befitting its perfect setting; even the weather played its part
THERE could hardly be a more apposite location to celebrate Scotland's Islands (as part of that eponymous year-long promotion) than the Shetland archipelago, which comprises over 100 islands, 15 of them inhabited. Thus it was that the 2011 Shetland Folk Festival - following last year's landmark 30th spree, justly named as Event of the Year at December's Scots Trad Music Awards - featured concerts in no fewer than four of its outlying communities, together with 24 more shows throughout the Shetland Mainland.

The specific Scotland's Islands strand within the programme united acts from the Western Isles (Gaelic singer-songwriter Eilidh Mackenzie, with her band), Orkney (Wrigley and the Reel) and Shetland (multi-instrumentalist whizzkid Ryan Couper, with visiting guitarist/accordionist Tim Edey), for concerts in Lerwick, Unst and Fair Isle - the latter being the UK's northernmost and Shetland's southernmost islands respectively.

With Shetland Islands Council among the very few local authorities not to declare last Friday a holiday, the North Unst Public Hall in Haroldswick (two more ferries and two hours by bus from Lerwick) certainly felt as far removed as possible - without actually leaving the country - from those other festivities 600-odd miles "sooth", as they say round here. Rendering the scene yet more blissfully idyllic was the uncannily beautiful weather: completely cloudless and largely windless all day, a combination as rare as the touch of Unst sunburn acquired on an afternoon walk, taking in sightings of basking seals and frolicking Shetland foals.

In many respects, though, Shetland's remoteness distances it strikingly little from the 21st century mainstream. Upon boarding the boats up to Unst, for instance, electronic signs inform you that the inter-island ferry service is now on Facebook, and that its terminals provide free wireless internet.

Backwater, no. Fabulously idiosyncratic - Unst in particular - emphatically yes. Just check out www.unstbusshelter.shetland.co.uk - an institution lovingly decked out each year according to a different theme ("Underwater" in 2004; "Outer Space" in 2006), offering truly unparalleled passenger amenities and visitor attractions, including the adjacent John Peel Memorial Traffic Island.

Then there's the traditional Shetland yoal - a clinker-built three-man fishing boat - berthed on the grass a mile or so down the road, fitted out in wrought iron to form a gigantic glockenspiel. On Yell, meanwhile, the next island down, a prettily inscribed wooden plaque on the portside toilet block names it "Dunpirlin" - to pirl, in local parlance, being to do what mostly gets done in such facilities.
The 100-strong capacity audience in Unst were treated to a showcase of Scottish island culture vibrantly befitting its perfect setting. Couper and Edey's dazzling, implausibly high-speed workouts, with the Shetlander switching between guitar and fiddle, were complemented by hilariously un-slick stagecraft, as Kent native Edey claimed honorary Yell citizenship and made brave if lamentable attempts at the local dialect. Mackenzie performed mainly self-penned material from two recent themed projects, Saoghal Sona and Bel Canto, interweaving her spun-glass soprano with fiddle, mandolin, guitar and bass, Gaelic idiom with jazz, pop and calypso accents, while paying tribute to tradition in a haunting unaccompanied lullaby/lament from the 16th century. Orcadian twin sisters Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley, on fiddle, guitar and piano, flanked by accordion ace Billy Peace and bassist Ian Mackay, delivered a characteristically scintillating set, from wickedly nimble dance tunes to Jennifer's gorgeously evocative tone-poem Orca.

After their overnight trip to Fair Isle - involving nearly five hours at sea, yet still described by Mackenzie's fiddler Gordon Gunn, who's nigh-on phobic about boat travel, as "just one of the best times ever" - the three acts merged memorably into one for Sunday's finale back in Lerwick. That's when all the visiting performers, this year totalling 17 different line-ups, find themselves shuttled around three separate venues, playing for 15 minutes in each: just one example of the miraculous logistical feats carried off by the festival's all-volunteer team.

"Ever since I got here, I feel like I've just been carried along on this wave of euphoria," exclaimed one tired but exceedingly happy first-time visitor come that final night. Besides the peerless local hospitality, Shetland's swing is fuelled centrally by eclectic musical excellence, not only among the headlining professionals but also the islands' home-grown musicians, filling the support slots and stuck into the myriad after-hours sessions.

Winning an especially wholehearted welcome were such contrasting festival newcomers as St Louis combo Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three, with their brilliantly slick, stylish yet authentically earthy vintage brand of "riverboat soul", and pyrotechnic Scottish piper Fred Morrison; the awesomely accomplished cajun/Americana/pop amalgam of all-sibling foursome L'Angelus and Swedish/Norwegian quintet Sver's lush, panoramic instrumentals.

Then there was the splendid contemporary songcraft and punchy roots-rock arrangements of Findlay Napier and the Bar Room Mountaineers; the jaw-dropping virtuosity of Irish banjo/bodhran duo Gerry O'Connor and Gino Lupari and the trancey, groove-driven soundscapes of Silesian outfit Beltaine, aptly summed by one admiring listener as "a Polish Peatbog Faeries".

Home-team highlights, meanwhile, included Rosanna O'Byrne's bewitching country-folk singing, the dozen-strong Aestaewast's energetic Afro-Cuban drumming, chanting and dancing, and Scalding Bragg's inspired cross-match of tartan punk attire with Pogues-style attack.

Bluesbunny 'File Under Fiction' Review

BLUESBUNNY

Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers
File Under Fiction
No catalogue number
Released: 2011

Another day, another genre. I’ve lost count of trainspotter level categorisation of the many types and forms of music. Hey, the shit either works or it doesn’t as they would most likely say in a New York cop drama. Before I hit my head with a toffee hammer again, let’s try some Scottish nu-folk from Findlay Napier & The Bar Room Mountaineers.

I’m not entirely sure what nu-folk is supposed to be but it, apart from a bit of the old fiddle, it doesn’t seem to have much to do with Highland Clearances, boats from Liverpool or Aran sweaters generally. In fact, judging from the good Mr Napier’s album “File Under Fiction”, it has more to do with raising the IQ of Scottish song writing whilst cleverly packaging it as a descendant of luminaries of Deacon Blue or even the Blue Nile. It’s a worrying thing to say but he might just be too good for the mass market.

You won’t find me complaining about the spirited use of a Scottish accent in an enclosed space – as happens here – when that accent uses its parochial disguise to reflect on that greatest source of inspiration for any sort of music. That would be women, by the way (but you knew that, I hope?).  Don’t get me wrong for this isn’t a relationship management kit. No, it’s a confident, and eminently melodic, look at the foibles of dealing with someone that doesn’t need a gun to be dangerous. Whether driven to drink (“One For The Ditch”), the long goodbye (“Don’t Look In My Eyes”) or the bleakness of confused inadequacy (“Heels Over Head”), the mark gets squarely hit every time. Perhaps surprisingly, there is little in the way of misogyny to be found in the words with the affection for the subject bringing much in the way of humour. That is indeed the way of a proper storyteller.

Ok, standout track time. There was a lot of competition here – as you might have guessed by now – but the winner had to “Cut Me Off” that started with a fiddle, overdosed on black humour and even managed to squeeze in a mention of Facebook. It’s obsession summed up in 3 minutes and 55 seconds and it’s more rock ‘n’ roll than fifty shitty indie rock bands. Fact!

If you haven’t been there then you’ll want to be after hearing this album and iIt grieves me to say it – especially given my notorious cynicism - but this is a quality album.

Review by:   Bluesbunny

http://www.bluesbunny.com/tabid/122/xmmid/474/xmid/3169/xmview/2/default.aspx