At a glance
Poetic champions compose
Cadair Idris was a revelation earlier in the year – a folk-jazz work of the calibre of poet Don Paterson and saxophonist Tim Garland’s 1990s band Lammas or strands of Lauren Kinsella’s work with Snowpoet (especially Thought You Knew).
Dùthchas, 4-stars, their new EP just out, reinforces the impression that this Leeds outfit whose use of the word Awen draws on a Welsh meaning for muse, are the freshest new band on the UK scene around, a world away from most other jazz inflected sounds right now.
Amen to Awen
The word AWEN even occurs in the third verse of the deeply stirring Welsh national anthem ‘Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ – ‘Land Of My Fathers’ – Ni luddiwyd yr AWEN gan erchyll law brad meaning the MUSE is not vanquished by traitor’s fell hand.
Azimuth, Lammas, Kinsella, Snowdonia
Listen to ‘Rover’ the best track here and you may even think of Azimuth a bit. The huge influence Norma Winstone has had on a range of singers since the 1970s rubs off.
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Mystic twilights, distant vistas
Singer Amy Clark shares something of the same ethereal and semi-mystical touch and sensibility as Kinsella, Winstone and Christine Tobin on this stand out Saul Duff song.
Duff is the saxophonist in the 7-piece – and in addition to Clark’s voice which is very Kinsella-like on ‘Agor’ the instrumentation is trumpet, guitar, piano, double bass and drums.
Ruairí Graham’s superb guitar playing is very Nick Costley-White-esque stylistically, bearing Costley-White’s Snowpoet connnection in mind, on ‘Rover.’
Clark uses spoken word in a Kinsella style on ‘Roots and Branches’ a Clark-Duff piece that has all the heady atmosphere of the silhouette dancing Dylan Thomas tuneful turning of ‘Fern Hill.‘
A beguiling sense of belonging
The title track written – we now understand contrary to the Spotify credits after the band’s trumpeter Emyr Penry Dance got in touch to point this out – by the drummer Eddie Bowes and Clark ”traversing fields like he’s in flight” song ‘Dùthchas’ dwells on a Scottish Gaelic word that means a feeling of belonging, of where everything is linked – and spanning the Celtic diaspora there’s contrastive Welsh language spoken word set against a bed of twinkling keys and jazz-rock breakout guitar on the Clark-Graham piece ‘The Lighthouse.’
- Awen Ensemble play the Muddy Puddle in Stoke Newington on 4 December, Peggy’s Skylight, Nottingham on 5 Dec and Band on the Wall, Manchester on 11 Dec.
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