| Reviews
THE GUARDIAN MUSIC BLOG
Posted by Claire Jackson Friday 29 May 2009
Pimp my instrument: The advantage of filling a piano with ping pong
balls
In a bid to beef up their sound, some musicians are tampering with
their instruments' timbre by attaching clothes pegs to violins and
stuffing corks into flutes.
".....It's not just Bertelmann and the piano. Taking a leaf
out of Sigur Ros' book, Norfolk duo Horses Brawl are causing a stir
in the lofty world of traditional folk by bowing their guitars.
Their third album, Wild Lament, due for release in June, sees them
turn fragments of Bulgarian wedding dances, Irish minuets and Bolivian
melodies into chilling experimental art – via the medium of "preparation".
The pair – Laura Cannell and Adrian Lever – meld renaissance styles
with pop music by adding stickers, clothes pegs and electronics
to their fiddles and recorders. The nature of folk music has always
made it open to embellishment, but adding modern paraphernalia in
this fashion is taking the genre to new levels."
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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 |
