Silverwheel, self-titled EP (label, year)
I should preface this particular piece with a flat statement: I absorb music through muscle and pore.
There's no intellectual component at all. I don't do theory. I don't deconstruct the symbolism. I don't try to connect the dots. I don't give a toss for the cerebrals of music. Music -- for me -- comes from, and goes to, an entirely different place.
It's a completely visceral reaction, varying from style to band to expectation and back again. Rock is all about the groin and the soft underbelly and the way the hips move. Jazz is about shoulders twitching, trying to find a comfort zone until the moment when Mingus or Coltrane or Miles hits me with the big zap.
Traditional music comes through the soft spot at the base of the throat, where the pulse is, and that means it has to synch up with the rhythms of my breathing. Martin Carthy does that, every time. Fairport, Steeleye Span, anything John Renbourne plays or Jacqui McShee sings, all those things get me in the rhythm of the intake and outflow of the oxygen supply that keeps me alive.
I know, I know. Not fair to lesser lights. But that's not true, not really; my reaction to a performer has nothing to do with his or her stature. My first reaction to Crooked Still's cover of "Dreadful Wind and Rain," for instance, was an immediate whoa, and the relegation of the song to the head of my trad playlist. Since that list includes all the above-mentioned luminaries and a few more besides, that's saying something.
So I listened to Silverwheel's cover of "Matty Groves" before I listened to the rest of the six-song CD. It's a song generally guaranteed to grab me; I've loved versions from Joan Baez on out.
Alas, this version didn't. It took a few listens to figure out why.
Silverwheel, if this EP is anything to go by, is a solid, competent band. They have style, they have verve (a little too much verve, which I'll get to shortly), they have an excellent fiddler and clearly they have passion for what they do.
They've also got Drama. Waaaaay too much Drama. Nearly every track has an overly breathless feel to it, a sort of audio version of a bodice ripper. A lot of that is in the drumming -- good drumming, but I think very over the top and too emphatic for the material. That's what wasn't getting past that pulse at the hollow of my throat: the presentation is so dramatic, it feels as if they don't trust the story behind the song to reach their listeners without turning it into a raree show. And when you consider the songs -- "Matty Groves," "Cold Haily Windy Night," "Black is the Colour" -- that's one hell of an assumption.
The one song for which I think they managed to tone themselves down sufficiently is their version of "Black is the Colour/Song of Fionnuala." Sue Cain's vocals work nicely on that one. The drumming is calmer, less in-your-face and the fiddle, definitely one of Silverwheel's strong points, is an eloquent counterpoint.
The second half of the CD is live (from the Sheffield Folk Festival), and the heavy breathlessness is all the way front and centre here. That would be normal, and expected, if live onstage was the only place this happened; after all, any performer worthy of the name responds to and enlarges for an audience. But the effect is there in the studio tracks as well, which tells me it's an integral part of how they play.
This is a band with good components, and I'll be delighted to given them another listen once they learn how to dial things down.
