Kinnaris Quintet – Free One
Self-Released – 21 September 2018
Have you ever had the pleasure of listening to an album so perfect that you struggle to find words to describe it? That was the case for me with Kinnaris Quintet’s upcoming debut album, Free One.
Kinnaris Quintet take their name from the Southeast Asian mythological bird-women, renowned for their music, song, dance and poetry; they are made up of five wonderfully skilled musicians – Fiona MacAskill and Laura Wilkie on fiddle; Aileen Reid Gobbi on 5-string fiddle and vocals; Laura-Beth Salter on mandolin, vocals, and tenor guitar; and Jenn Butterworth on stomp, vocals, and guitar.
Each member of Kinnaris Quintet is a well-known traditional musician in her own right – between them they have performed with such luminaries as Shooglenifty; Fiddler’s Bid, Niteworks; The Shee; Salsa Celtica; Ross Ainslie & Jarlath Henderson Band; Dougie MacLean; Fat-Suit; Songs Of Separation; and Phil Cunningham. In 2017, Jenn Butterworth and Laura-Beth Salter also released their first debut album together, Bound, to great critical acclaim.
Moving in the same musical circles, it is no surprise that before forming Kinnaris Quintet, the band members were already friends, often playing together at sessions as well as crossing paths at their various gigs. Forming Kinnaris Quintet, according to Aileen Gobbi, was something that came about organically and from the bands’ first live performance in 2017, it is evident that there is a very special alchemy at work here – a natural, instinctive, often unpredictable, always fearless musical affinity between the musicians that form the backbone of this luminous debut album.
A mixture of original and cover tunes, all tracks on Free One were arranged and produced by Kinnaris Quintet, with Finnish fiddler Esko Jarvel (Frigg) lending a friendly ear; engineered and mixed by Andrea Gobbi: and mastered by Iain Hutchison of GloWorm Recordings. Recorded live in the studio, with each track played through from start to finish, an innovative exuberance and crackling energy infuse every tune.
Nonna Pina, the delicately swooping opening track written by Gobbi as a tribute to what she describes in the liner notes as her grandmother’s sweetness and strength introduces the album. Supported by a richly rhythmic layer of strings, this sweet tune gently turns and twists, before gathering itself into the meteoric storm of sound that is Space Ghetto, a tune that raises the hairs on the back of your neck even as it puts your feet to tapping. (And, as a bonus, also according to the liner notes, if you say “Space Ghetto” in an American accent, it sounds like “Spice Girls” Try it. It’s true!)
Following flashing covers of Can You Repeat That, Please?, and The Fisherman in The Wardrobe, a tune from Michael McGoldrick’s album “Fused,” the album’s third track, Mary Binnie, takes you back in time, technically speaking, with a nostalgic old school “scratchy record” intro to a retreat march written to welcome a friend of the band’s newborn baby girl.
Next, Toria’s Birthday is an intricate foot-stomper that contrasts beautifully with the shimmering melancholy and rising vivacity of June’s Garden/Pockets. Once again, friendships inspired both tunes.
In this album, there are a lot of strings, playing together but not necessarily in unison. For lesser musicians, one imagines that it would be easy to lose their musical footing. Not so with Kinnaris Quintet. In Free One, each instrument’s distinct harmonies, melodies, and counterpoints interweave flawlessly with each other while leaving space for Butterworth, Gobbi and Salter’s tasteful vocals that add layers of sound to what is already a rich tapestry. This is highlighted in Princess Fiona, which brings a distinctiveness to each instrument: even as they dance around each other, each instrument’s voice rings clear with utter precision and clarity.
The following set is a study in contrasts as Gortavale Rock kicks off on an earthy sensual note and segues into the bright cascading notes of The Road To Poynton.
Saltspring Overture’s dreamy melodic improvisation introduces the classic bluegrass tune Saltspring, followed by the percussive jazz-tinged Balfour Road (Rhonda Dalling) which transitions into a remarkably kinetic soaring rendition of The Weatherman (Alasdair White).
According to the band, their aim with Free One was to capture the energy, intricacy, harmony, and grooves that inspired these five women to form a band in the first place and to make their distinctive mark on the traditional musical landscape.
This can be clearly heard in the eponymous final tune Free One as it ignores conventional structure and timing, beckoning listeners closer as it bids them an enticing farewell. Throughout most of the album, the rich vocals wind in and out of earshot, enhancing but not dominating the overall fabric of sound. In this last tune, the vocals take flight – by turns sad, joyful, and playful, but most of all, free.
One of the most enjoyable things about this album is that the heart of Free One is firmly rooted in friends and family. While its sound is unabashedly progressive, the band’s strong roots and fierce love of traditional music is clearly expressed. This fearless exploration often takes unconventional routes but never wanders off track as this powerhouse of a band takes Irish, Scottish, and Bluegrass by the hand and spins them into an album as unique and innovative as it is technically dazzling.
I have no doubt Free One is destined to take its place as one of the best debut albums of 2018.
This Thursday the 20th September will see the official release of Free One. To celebrate they’re hosting a session at La Bodega in Glasgow from 8 pm.
Order via Bandcamp: https://kinnarisquintet.bandcamp.com/album/free-one
For more details and live dates visit http://www.kinnarisquintet.com/
Photo Credit: Mike Guest, courtesy of the artist