| Reviews
DERBY TELEGRAPH 18th June 09
Review: Horses Brawl Derby
Assembly Rooms 12th June 09
A BAND that cites Kathryn Tickell and Cecilia Bartoli among its
influences has got to be worth hearing.
Horses Brawl comprises Laura Cannell – recorders, fiddle and (though
not on this occasion, sadly) crumhorn – and Adrian Lever, guitar.
Together they roam the overlap area between mediaeval and Renaissance
music on the one hand and folk music on the other, picking up anything
that takes their fancy, putting them together in unexpected combinations,
and seeing what emerges.
Mixing and matching composed music from Renaissance Spain and Italy,
English folk dance tunes and traditional music from as far afield
as Bulgaria and Bolivia, they blend these disparate elements to
the point where it is sometimes not easy to hear where one stops
and the other takes over. But what makes the results so exciting
and refreshing is the pair's virtuosity and sonic imagination.
Laura Cannell doesn't just switch between treble and descant recorder,
she occasionally plays both at the same time, as in the opening
number. On the violin she uses both a baroque and a modern bow,
she mutes the lower two strings only to produce a hurdy-gurdy effect,
and she plays the instrument guitar-style, using a plectrum.
Adrian Lever's guitar-playing can be hauntingly subtle, or rhythmically
incisive, with ear-deceiving percussion sounds, and he produces
some magically resonant drone effects using Laura's violin bow.
And I bet you didn't know that you can use an Oyster card as a guitar
mute.
Mike Wheeler
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Quick
quotes
"It's great stuff.....an early music group to keepan eye on"
BBC RADIO
3
"Foot-tapping folk rhythms and baroque ornamentation".
THE TELEGRAPH
"Highly experimental,
technically wonderful....a fantastic and vibrant performance"
TRADITION Magazine
"Deeply entwined in the sound of medieval and traditional folk,
Horses Brawl are giving a 21st century makeover to the dance music
of the past"
BBC Norfolk
"Horses Brawl's music is vibrant, engaging and completely spellbinding.....I
love it, one of the most exciting bands around"
Steafan Hannigan
"A fascinating progression from formal dance music to semi-improvisation
that had the packed audience roaring for more"
fROOTs FORUM Album launch review |
