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Reviews
fROOTs Magazine July 2008
Horses Brawl
Dindirin Brawl Records BRAWL003
A fiddle/guitar
duo, Horses Brawl – no apostrophe – also make frequent use of recorders
and crumhorns as well as doing odd things to guitars, like playing
them with an oyster card (they don’t say if still worked afterwards).
Their material is drawn from 13th – 17th centuries plus European
folk traditions but the sparsity of the instrumentation aligns their
music much more with the earlier end of that spectrum. Nobody sings
and the effect, even in the moments of “wild abandon”, (their words)
is quite stark. Unquestionably, that can work, as on Bibit which
builds up some serious intensity. Whether it’s something you could
happily take in 40 minutes of at one sitting, without the additional
input a live performance offers, is another question. It certainly
isn’t ‘all the same’ but it is using, however inventively, a deliberately
limited palette – you can see why polyphonic music caught on. Lest
that seem too much of a downer, individual sections have a lot to
offer, especially the near seamless move between La Gamba (The Leg,
if my minimal knowledge of Italian serves) and Alca. This isn’t
perhaps a record that you ‘get’ instantly, and there are occasions
when the musicians are maybe playing for their own satisfaction
rather than your listening pleasure, but some rewarding music is
here to be discovered.
Nick Beale
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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 |
