We recently reviewed top Anglo-Irish band Flook’s outstanding new album Ancora, their first since 2005 – read the review here. The band’s dual flute players Sarah Allen and Brian Finnegan recently took some time out to talk about making the album and the background to some of the tunes. The band took a break back in 2008, getting back together again in 2013 so that seemed as good a place as any to start, what was that reunion like?
“…the voltage returned and like all deep friendships, it felt like we’d never been apart” explains Brian. “Part of the decision to re-group was the understanding that we had much left to say as a band, and a certain responsibility to our loyal fans, old and new, to create Flook music of the present, rich in both past and future.”
The hugely engaging array of tunes on Ancora are mostly composed by Sarah and/or Brian. Brian confirmed my suspicions that in the interim there has been no let in the accumulation of tunes. “Our music has always been inspired by life and 14 years is a substantial amount of life experience to fuel the creative fire.” We dig a little deeper and Sarah begins to talk about some of the wide-ranging inspirations for the titles to some of the tunes on Ancora:
“Turquoise Girl was written for my daughter, Maisy, now aged 12, and for her love of sunshine and swimming and diving into the icy outdoor lido across the road from where we live.
“Ocean Child [written by Brian] is dedicated to our dear friend and promoter in Japan, Yoko Nozaki, who has brought us over to Japan many times since we started out and has always believed wholehearted in us – and us in her. We were rehearsing this tune on our last tour over there back in October and gave it its’ world premiere on the tour.
“Jig for Simon [written by Sarah and Brian] was written 4 or 5 years back but had always been without a name. We played it first at a couple of gigs in Saltaire Live and Sale [Waterside], both run [and/or promoted] by the late, great Simon Heginbotham, and we did a shout out at those gigs, asking for name suggestions. None fitted. We were recording this tune in April last year when we heard that Simon had tragically died, so it seemed a fitting tribute to dedicate this tune to him, to remember him by: his passion for good music, his wild dancing at the back of the hall, and his endless bouncy enthusiasm.
“Ellie Goes West [written by Brian] was written for Ellie, who first came to Brian’s whistle classes at the Burwell Bash, a lovely summer school in Cambridgeshire when she was only tiny. She’s all grown up now and runs the summer school! And she married a fellow called Dave West – so this tune was written for her.”
As mentioned in the review, there is a long list of guest musicians on Ancora. In the case of American hammer dulcimer player Simon Chrisman and Austrian hurdy-gurdy player Matthias Loibner, Brian tells me that the band had already had their tunes down (The Tree Climber and Lalabee) “so it felt fitting to have them join us.”
The variety of musicians guesting on the album may seem like a challenge to most in maintaining the band’s signature sound, but with Ancora, it has added many subtle, elevating layers. I asked Brian how they went about deciding who should contribute to the album.
“We each had a wish list of guests we wanted to invite, some lists were longer than others and in the end some folk were just out of reach at the time we recorded. But at this stage in our lives, if we have a tune that swings, we know who’s playing is best suited to swing with it, so in that respect, perhaps the tune decides!”
While the tune may well decide the musicians that featured, all shared something in common – an instinctive nature of playing, a point that Brian is keen to highlight.
“The thrill of having players such as Simon and Matthias, and in fact all of the guest folk on the album, is knowing that they find the space instinctively without any marshalling at all. Take for example The Coral Castle [a tune co-written by Brian with American mandolin player Ashley Broder]: Simon Chrisman put his hammer dulcimer parts down in Nashville and steel drum player Melvin Ifill did his session in Bath, Somerset. These guys have never met, their music could not be more different, yet the poise and grace with which they weave those two voices around the tune and each other just took our breath away.”
For those wondering if there is an underlying concept at the core of this album, it would appear things are a lot more organic driven, as Brian confirms: “No concept at all”, adding “Just a soundtrack of the lives we’ve been living since Haven [their last album].” Finally, he reflects on how Ancora differs from their previous studio albums, in the context of the multiplicity of things each of the band is involved in: “We were a full-time band when we recorded all our previous albums. Most of the material on those albums had road miles. Not so on Ancora.” The resulting album suffers not one iota from any lack of road-testing. Ancora is a fresh and exhilarating offering from the matchless Flook.
Flook kick off their album tour at Kings Place on 25th April. For their full list of extensive tour dates click here.
Pre-Order Ancora: via Flook | Amazon
Photo Credit: Naoki Fujioka