World Music & Folk: By Tony Hillier

ALBUMS: World Music Folk

BY TONY HILLIER

THE TRIALS OF CATO GOG MAGOG

Independent

The Trials of Cato is an exciting Welsh/English trio whose strange name and, indeed, very existence stem from a teaching assignment in Beirut. Their 2018 debut release, Hide and Hair, netted a BBC best folk album award and the follow-up, which introduces a charismatic new female band member, seems certain to secure further honours. Dynamic and original, The Trials of Cato pay homage to the folk tradition whilst twisting ancient tales into febrile 21st century shape. One of the album’s highlights (and an eye and ear-catching YouTube video), ‘Bedlam Boys’ is a surreal modern take of a disturbing 17th century tale of murder and madness featuring some outstanding ensemble work and arranging, vocally and instrumentally. Elsewhere, Cato harks back to AD 60 for a eulogy of the warrior queen Boudicca that’s delivered with some passion by the new girl. Another of Polly Bolton’s songs, the bluesy ‘I Thought You Were My Friend’, is contrastingly very much of the now. An album conceived in Wales during the corona virus pandemic, recorded in a New York State studio and now out there for global approbation comes complete with plague songs and several brushes with Beelzebub, startlingly so in the spectral 16th century story ‘When Black Shuck Roams’. Interspersed with the delving into British history are a couple of pithy instrumentals that radiate jazzy Celtic exuberance and emphasise Cato’s excellence as stringed instrumentalists and composers. While there are elements that link them with some of the UK’s finest folk-rock bands such as Pentangle, Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span, Bellowhead and Stick in The Wheel, The Trials of Cato has admirably cultivated its own unique style.

TREVOR BEALES FIRESIDE STORIES

Basin Rock/Planet

This is an extraordinary album for many reasons. In a nutshell, it’s a previously unreleased recording made by a comparatively unknown young English folkie fresh out of school in the family attic in the picturesque West Yorkshire township of Hebden Bridge some half-a-century ago. It only takes one listen to Fireside Stories to appreciate that Trevor Beales, who died suddenly and unexpectedly aged 33 in 1987, was an exceptional musician, whose poetic songs, singing and glorious guitar playing can be compared to that of Hebden Bridge’s current resident troubadour Steve Tilston. Beales’ intelligent, well-arranged songs have a timeless quality, even if they, paradoxically, provide a snapshot of the early 1970s. Only one of the 13 tracks in this long overdue release is over 4-minutes and half-a-dozen are less than 2-minutes, which speaks volumes for the succinctness of his writing. Counterbalancing songs such as ‘Metropolis’ (about a busker’s lot) and ‘Then I’ll Take You Home’ (about false prophets) that reflect some cynicism are uplifting pieces such as ‘Sunlight On The Table’ and ‘Fireside Story’. The brilliance of Beales’ guitar fingerpicking at such a young age is illustrated by the quality of his instrumentals ‘Dance of The Mermaids’ and Dave Evans’ ‘Braziliana’. There’s a hint of Nick Drake in ‘The Prisoner’ and the aforementioned Steve Tilston in ‘City Lights’. ‘Marion Belle’ draws impressively on traditional folk. Trevor Beales’ songs expressed a worldliness and maturity that belied his youth while showcasing an inherent storyteller’s ear for narrative.

THE UNTHANKS SORROWS AWAY

Cadiz/Planet

Since their early days with The Winterset, self-confessed “miserable buggers” Rachel and Becky Unthank have held English folk buffs and reviewers spellbound with their melancholic ballads and broad Northumbrian brogue. In more recent years they have embroidered their funereally paced songs and pristine but plaintive singing with strings and brass backing. UK critics have predictably been raving about Sorrows Away, their first new work for a while, which was recorded entirely at their home studio. Compared to some of The Unthanks’ past releases, it’s positively upbeat, although still somewhat bleak, despite a full band set-up. Four tracks occupy between 7 and 9 minutes each. By contrast, one of the standout cuts, ‘Waters of Tyne’, clocks in at a mere 3-minutes. Some of the songs are centuries old. The opening ‘Great Silkie Of Sule Skerry’ is a slow-burning reading of a traditional Orkney song concerning a supernatural tragedy. The closing title track certainly has its moments, though it too would have benefitted from editing. The pick of the long players, ’The Sandgate Dandling Song’, tackles domestic abuse!

WESLI TRADISYON

Cumbancha

Plagued by pestilence, poverty and political upheaval, not to mention devastating hurricanes and earthquakes, Haiti cannot compete musically with its Caribbean Island neighbours Cuba and Jamaica. That’s not to say, however, that the country doesn’t punch well above its weight, as bands such as Lakou Mizik and Boukman Eksperyans have shown in recent years. Reflecting the African, French and American influences that coagulate in Haitian music, Tradisyon — the first of a two-part project by Haitian-Canadian songwriter, guitarist and producer Wesley Louissaint — retells the story of Haiti’s past and imagines its future in an intriguing set that explores traditional chants from the voodoo religion, explosive carnival so-called rara rhythms and lilting, folksy ‘twoubadou’ songs.