Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening – Hollowbone
Magnetic North East – 5th April 2019
Hollowbone – in Shamanism, is an empty vessel to connect with the spirit world. A perfect title, then, for this mesmerising album from Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, an album that connects music and song with history, geography and people; music that transcends barriers, draws on ancient and contemporary voices, in a work that is as elemental as it is sophisticated.
Even before her debut album at the age of 16, Kathryn Tickell’s music has always connected directly with her audience, and with her Northumbrian roots. Renowned as the finest exponent of the Northumbrian pipes, multi-instrumentalist Kathryn is something of a musical shaman herself, shape-shifting her way through an immensely successful and fruitful career that has seen her record and perform highly acclaimed work as a solo musician and composer, and produce ground-breaking work with a wide range of artists including Sting, The Chieftains, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Evelyn Glennie, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
Described by Kathryn as ‘a charm against all the haters out there’, O-U-T Spells Out was featured on Folk Radio last October. This unique song serves as an impressive mission statement for Kathryn and her five companions, opening the album with Amy Thatcher’s accordion in a tumbling, hypnotic cascade and an excited whisper of vocals. With the addition of Kathryn’s pipes and drummer Joe Truswell’s assertive beats, the result comes across like an analogue synth-pop and, on the surface, is as far removed from folk as Hadrian’s Wall is from the homelands of its creator. Dig a little deeper, though, and among all that acerbic energy lurk children’s counting and skipping games, and references to an ancient ritual that the album’s title suggests. It’s an explosive and exciting start to Hollowbone – and there’s far more to come.
Over 11 tracks Hollowbone combines music and song passed down through centuries with new compositions, all connected to the history, landscape and people of Northumbria. Hushabye Birdie / Hexham Lasses seems to encapsulate the entire album, as the rich sound of Kieran Szifris’ octave mandolin combines with fiddler Kate Young’s charango, in Kate’s new melody for an old Scottish lullaby. Among soft bass synth beats, Kate’s playful vocal is interwoven with Hexam Lasses on Kathryn’s pipes – a perfect blend of Scots and Northumbrian tradition with an alluring contemporary voice.
On Morpeth, shimmering strings and a soft chant open a new interpretation of the oldest known manuscript of pipe music. ‘New Way to Morpeth’ is a melody that epitomises all the charm of small pipes, and among the contemporary reed, percussion and bass sounds there are ancient voices too, as timeless as the crashing of waves that Joe’s cymbals so perfectly invoke, before we’re led on an utterly enchanting dance by a perfectly executed pipe/accordion duet among percussion and keys. Old Stones / Holy Island Jig was inspired by Lindisfarne Island and ‘Old Stones Reborn’ – Kathryn’s commission by the Holy Island Festival. From a beautifully mellow opening of solo pipes, fiddle responds to the melody and together they explore the possibilities, before Cormac Byrne’s clacking of bones takes us to a jig driven along by guitar and bodhrán. Fiddle and percussion offer up an even more contemporary rhythm and the result is beautiful, exciting, passionate music with compelling drama in the deep bass synth, and Kathryn digging deep into her Northumbrian pipes’ range.
In Tune For Mina, soaring, uplifting melodies ascend on powerful wings and exude all the wisdom and independent spirit of the David Almond character that inspired the piece. In contrast, bass strings and rich beats put Cockle Bridge on a tribal footing as pipes, accordion and fiddle step out the traditional Cockle Geordie and progress, with ever-increasing excitement, to Kathryn’s Bridge Reel – delivered at a blinding pace on pipes and accordion, driven along by bodhrán and keys. There’s room for a moment of quiet reflection from soft guitar and fiddle, a moment’s respite from the abundance of energy that, if bottled, could easily put Lucozade out of business.
Voices from antiquity is something of a theme on the album and, Kathryn tells us in the sleeve notes, the song in Colliers (Colliers Rant), is about as old as mining songs get. The mournful fiddle that opens the track is made all the more mysterious by layers of dark chants before a song, full of bravado on the part of the singer and his mates, emerges with tales of an underground encounter with Auld Nick, interwoven with Kathyrn’s striking and energizing Colliers March.
As evidenced by Colliers, the sources of the album’s lyrical content are as varied as the instrumental. Short and sweet, Darlington comes from an anonymous poem from Neil Astley’s Land of Three Rivers anthology, which Kathryn spoke about in an interview with Folk Radio in 2017 and is delivered as unaccompanied three-part harmonies. The indecipherable lyrics of Aboot the Bush date from the 19th century. In the capable hands of The Darkening, the mystery deepens with an untamed and beguiling fiddle driven ever onward by guitar, percussion and layers of hushed chanting. The short song is also offered complete and unaccompanied, but it’s a side-note to the remarkable instrumental sections; dark and heavy – like a hypnotic, unholy alliance between Martyn Bennett and Captain Beefheart.
Hymn To Nemesis, though, is undeniably this album’s centrepiece. Inspired by words and music written by Mesomedes, a freedman in the time of Emperor Hadrian, in his Hymn to Nemesis. The earthy tones of Kieran’s octave mandolin are a perfect herald to magnificently complex layers of vocal, and Kathryn implores Nemesis to “Rein in the insolent whinnyings of men,” before pipes take up the melody among that rich combination of beats, bass synth and strings.
To close the album, Holywell Pool brings us back to the present and a poem written by Kathryn’s Dad, Mike, in memory of singer and storyteller Stanley Robertson. Air through reeds, water over stones, wood on wood; the combination of voices is mesmeric and carries a spirituality – a reverence for music and words that intensifies with bird song.
There are songs and voices by the well, in the air by the house,
But I cannot catch them.
He said you could take them from the air
Bring them down and sing them bonny.
(Mike Tickell)
Kathryn Tickell’s music flows so naturally you could be forgiven for thinking it’s plucked from the air – distilled from birdsong, a light south-westerly, and sunlight (or often moonlight); as natural, and as compelling as a waterfall. Hollowbone belies that notion in magnificent style. The music is complex and animated, exploring the mists of millennia but singing in a clear, contemporary voice. Hollowbone is a wonderful, brave, and intoxicating album.
Pre-Order Hollowbone: Kathryn Tickell | Amazon
Upcoming Live Dates
APR 02 – THE STABLES, MILTON KEYNES
APR 03 – ST GEORGE’S, BRISTOL
APR 04 – GUILDHALL ARTS CENTRE, GRANTHAM
APR 05 – SAFFRON HALL, SAFFRON WALDEN
APR 06 – TURNER SIMS, SOUTHAMPTON
More details here: https://www.kathryntickell.com/live-dates
Photo Credit: Georgia Claire