The Breath – Let The Cards Fall
Real World Records – 14 September 2018
A soft hum, a guitar, a bass; and 45 second’s preparation for what’s to come. Ditty gently takes your hand and leads you into the second album from The Breath, Let The Cards Fall. That elegant introduction serves as an indication that the mesmerising splendour of the Manchester duo’s 2016 debut, Carry Your Kin (reviewed here), is about to be repeated. There’s more, though, it’s about to be surpassed.
Stuart McCallum and Ríoghnach Connolly released their first album as The Breath just over two years ago. Carry Your Kin took shape over a five-year evolution, with co-written songs rehearsed and performed until honed to perfection. On September 14th, The Breath release Let The Cards Fall and, as evidenced in our preview of the album’s title track back in June, the duo continue to produce fascinating music.
After that brief opening, All That You Have Been is propelled along by driving beats, stirring strings and a feeling of riding into battle. Calling the victors’ view of history into question; there’s a sense of urgency in the call to move forward with knowledge of the past…
won’t you sever empty dread
come play with me instead
count the truth a terminal release
When Ríoghnach Connolly and Stuart McCallum met amid the bustle Manchester’s live music scene, there was an immediate empathy that seemed to compel them to work together. Best known for her work with Afro Celt Sound System and the delightfully undefinable Honeyfeet; Ríoghnach’s impassioned vocals and skill as a flute player were a perfect match for Stuart’s considered, often reserved, blend of electronic and acoustic music. It took a few years but, in time, they found a collaborative approach to writing that resulted in their debut album; a contemporary album with tradition at its heart while it looks to the future.
The influence of tradition and history still holds sway over much of the new album. Will You Wait recalls the role of professional mourners, the Caoíneamh, as the depth of cello contrasts with a gentle acoustic guitar and vocal duet. Harking back even further, to the ancient goddess/queen Macha, Let The Cards Fall opens with the same ethereal softness, enriched by piano, bass and viola. Soon percussion takes over the latent dynamism that’s been in the cello & viola all the way through.
Along with the duo, a core band of John Ellis (keys), Sam Vicary (bass) and Luke Flowers (drums) are joined by a string section – Ben Cashell, Emma Sweeney, Simmy Singh, Laura Senior, Lucy Nolan, and Peggy Nolan. Let The Cards Fall has seen Stuart and Ríoghnach take a different approach to song writing. In a far more spontaneous mode of creativity, the songs were written, more or less, as they were recorded. Developing over just a few sessions, the songs feel more natural, more earthy. And perhaps none more, than the astonishing love song Let It Calm You Down.
and I’ll hold my weapon out and raise a glass
for all you’ve done to me and all you’ve cost
When you learn that the song was originally improvised, live, during a performance at a Manchester Jazz Club it seems even more astonishing. When piano appears over the gentle vocal/guitar combination it sends a shiver down the spine, before cello sends that shiver deep, deep into your soul. From that point, the song seems to flower – like time-lapse footage of a bud blooming. Carry Your Kin and Let The Cards Fall are such singular and unique albums I hesitate to draw direct comparisons, but Let It Calm You Down evoked the same conflicting reaction of tranquillity and elation as For You did two years ago.
There’s no shortage of tension in those remarkable songs, either. Untie Me Now is a quiet, acoustic duet of guitar and bass, underpinning a softly lilting vocal. The vocal, though, is a whispered rage, and in time the rage is released amongst drums, keyboards and strings. Hide Out is darker, more mysterious, with its fading drums, hushed cymbals, and Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh‘s Hardanger fiddle; understated initially but growing in stature throughout. Trip the Switch is rich with bass, keyboards and percussion; darkly circling ire in every note, both played and sung
you do as you wish, I’ve worked you out
you don’t miss a trick
The full force of Ríoghnach’s wrath, though, is felt as the album closes, with What You Owe. Of the song, she writes “the travelling people, forced to take to the roads during the famine, guardians of a lost culture, an older language, the oldest songs, still aren’t heralded for the horror they survived.
I do not know where to begin with such injustice. I witnessed the worst kind of oppression, from within an already subjugated society and I didn’t understand it, but I do know… “
This is big. It’s tribal, it hits back – and it hits back hard.
There’s an exigency in Let The Cards Fall that contrasts the comforting consideration and warmth of Carry Your Kin. It’s as if the stories and exhortations in those bewitching songs had to be channelled; to be born at their conception, divest of artistic gestation. Without that spontaneity, their very essence could be lost. The songs are still superbly crafted, the arrangements as rich and fulfilling as any of Stuart McCallum’s work. The fundamental power those songs wield, though, comes from Ríoghnach Connolly’s emphatic vocal; whether acerbic or benign. Let The Cards Fall surpasses its predecessor in its power to take you along with it. Once again, The Breath have the power to ensnare you, and you’ll be able to think of nothing else. You have been warned.
Let The Cards Fall is released today via Real World Records. Order it here http://smarturl.it/RW220
TOUR DATES
4 Oct HULL University of Hull
9 Oct CARDIFF Acapela Studios
30 Oct NORWICH Norwich Arts Centre
31 Oct LONDON the Nest Collective at the Old Queens Head
1 Nov BRISTOL Trinity Centre
8 Nov BRIGHTON Komedia
9 Nov NOTTINGHAM Metronome
13 Nov MANCHESTER The Deaf Institute
Photo Credit: Duncan Elliott courtesy of Real World Records