Fara – Times From Times Fall
Self-Released – 19 October 2018
Two years ago Cross The Line earned Orkney quartet Fara a nomination for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards’ Horizon Award; the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Critics Choice Award); and a nomination for Folk Band of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards. All this, for a debut album. So the news that Fara will soon be releasing their second album, Times from Times Fall (out on 19th October), has been greeted with no shortage of enthusiasm.
Fiddlers Kristan Harvey, Jeana Leslie and Catriona Price, and pianist Jennifer Austin grew up together on Orkney. Individually, they’ve all made significant contributions to Scottish trad music, in a wide range of projects. These life-long friends first came together on stage, though, as the backing group to Orkney’s energetic festival favourites, The Chair. After being persuaded to play a few sets as a quartet, they found that the Orkney musical traditions they’d shared all their lives brought something unique to the stage – and (having politely declined mentor Douglas Montgomery’s suggestion to name themselves The Chairettes) Fara was born.
As you would expect, Fara’s second album opens with a chorus of fiddles in a sound that just exudes joy. With a lively polka to warm you up, The Port Polka/Rognvald Ritch, The Little/The Shore, marks another new direction for Fara, as several of the tunes were self-composed together. The set was warmly welcomed when it featured on Folk Radio recently The Port Polka and Rognvald Ritch, The Little both exemplify what a great decision that was, especially with the latter’s Romany tones, artfully interspersed dancing harmonies and cascades of strings and keyboards. Kirstan’s The Shore closes the set with a return to the dance floor and a hint of swing. Installing the brilliant guitarist and fiddler Anna Massie in the producer’s chair has clearly helped foster the richness of spirit and sense of fun that shines so clearly.
https://soundcloud.com/faragirls/fara-times-from-times-fall-4
It’s clear those co-written melodies work well in tune sets that include individual work – The Depliction/My Favourite Cow/Farewell To The Prid features tunes from Kirstan and Catriona on either side of a fine co-write. I had to look up a definition for The Depliction, but whatever it means, Kirstan has come up with a gorgeous, lively, toe-tapper of a melody to celebrate it. Three fiddle parts – and each one of them soars. My Favourite Cow carries on perfectly and I’m unsure whether Catriona’s Farewell To The Prid also has a bovine connection (sometimes you should just stay away from Google), but it’s a gorgeous melody that just sings.
Times from Times Fall isn’t all about enchanting melodies, though. The utterly fascinating Simple Dirt/The Fighter sways and reels across the senses like a wayward pipe tune before becoming tangled up in some serious bass notes, that lead to the more enlightened path of The Fighter; a late night reel that has something of the darkness and the wee folk about it.
On a more sublime note, Jeana’s At The Ebb extols the virtues of Orkney’s stunning coastlines through three gently soaring fiddle parts. Quietly evocative and full of romance, with a tinkle of the piano the track links perfectly to a tune in honour of Catriona’s mother’s German origins. 7, 8, Nein /I’ll Do It Last Friday moves from a rich, lively melody full of fresh island air, to a lovely round with a more strident, driving chorus of strings. It’s appropriate that Fara would include a tune set dedicated to friendship, and Miss Rosa Sermanni Holmes/Vintage Pals/Upside Down Under does just that, with fiddle chords and vocals on the wind before a sparkling dance that moves up a gear, or even two, as the set progresses.
In addition to being a fine instrumental ensemble, Fara are also, of course, just as adept at performing trad and contemporary song. On Times from Times Fall they also celebrate Orkney’s rich literary heritage, with songs adapted from the work of three native writers. Christina Costie may not have gained the recognition or audience afforded to George MacKay Brown or Edwin Muir, but her devotion to the Orkney dialect was immeasurable and resulted in a wealth of short stories and poetry that have helped preserve it. Her 1952 poem, Speech, was written in response to the local education director’s insistence that locals should abandon the dialect, but Fara have taken her poem Speir Thoo the Wast Wind and furnished it with a beautiful melody. Listening to this song, how anyone could wish for the elimination of such a beautiful sound is beyond me. There’s something utterly enchanting about the Orkney dialect, in Speir Thoo the Wast Wind that enchantment grows tenfold, with driving fiddle, and fiddle harmonies for the clear, ringing vocal.
Those very worthy writers Muir and Brown are also celebrated, though, and Fara have proved themselves to be the ideal musicians for the job.
George MacKay Brown‘s work came from the very soil, stone and society of the islands. Fara have provided his poem, The Road Home, with a melody that has all the swagger, and perhaps stagger, of his journeys home to Stromness from various parts of the islands. It’s a finely wrought portrait of the island’s life, history and pre-history. I’m certain Brown would have loved this, a fine example of Fara’s ability to fill a song with theatre.
Edwin Muir‘s poem ‘Song’, from The Labyrinth, was the inspiration for Love Gathers All and provides the album with its title. A recently featured Song of the Day on Folk Radio, soft piano and pizzicato violin frame Jeana’s exquisite vocal, for Muir’s beautiful poem, before the song expands to embrace quietly intricate layers of vocal, violin, and keyboard. Jeana’s lyrical talent has provided the album with another contemplative song. With just keyboards and voice, See It All offers hope and reassurance amid loss in an elegant song of comfort. Just hold them in your heart and that’s where they stay.
I will be the one that you feel,
When the wind blows kisses through your hair.
See the birds fly high, the mountains touch the sky;
I’ll see it all,
I’ll see it all through you.
Those gentle passages on the album extend to the instrumental pieces too. Frances’ Day, written by Catriona for her sister’s wedding, is a soft highland fiddle air where Catriona display’s the same lightness of touch as Duncan Chisholm. Utterly delightful – and even more so when two more fiddles join like birdsong. Maxwell’s Light closes the album with uncharacteristic restraint, in a graceful piano piece from Jen that also sees the Fara pianist take to the fiddle, as both writer and performer. The piece was commissioned by the 2015 Orkney Science Festival to mark the 250th anniversary of the discovery of the nature of light by Edinburgh scientist James Clerk Maxwell.
I doubt if there’s another band that produce such complex and engaging fiddle music, along with equally complex and engaging song. Life-long friendship; the rich historical, literary, and musical heritage of the Orkney Islands for inspiration; and a quartet of gifted, imaginative musicians. Fara have all the ingredients for a perfect album, and Times from Times Fall is the proof.
Upcoming UK Dates
Sat 20 Oct. Masham Town Hall, MASHAM
Sun 21 Oct. Ropetackle Arts Centre, SHOREHAM BY THE SEA
Thu 25 Oct. The Fleece Inn, BRETFORTON
Fri 26 Oct. Brook Hall, EMSWORTH
Sat 27 Oct. The Junction, CAMBRIDGE
For ticket links and to pre-order the album head here http://faramusic.co.uk/
Photo Credit: Mike Guest