Rob Harbron – Meanders
Self Released – 29 July 2019
Rob Harbron is arguably this country’s most prized English concertina player and is probably best known at present for his work with the super trio Leveret, with Sam Sweeney and Andy Cutting, but his repertoire stretches far and has taken in the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Full English and a long list of reputable musicians. He also runs the English Acoustic Collective summer school with Sweeney and Miranda Rutter. However, until now Rob has not gotten round to recording his solo project, but it seems with a focus this year on solo concertina material, it was time to craft his debut album. Meanders has been made in the simplest way, with Rob and Andy Bell escaping to Woodworm in Oxfordshire where, after the second day in the studio, the finished mixes were ready. It is lightening quick work, but this is a purely solo record, with no studio effects or added instrumentation whatsoever, and the result is exactly what you would wish for, which is beautiful pieces of music performed with the utmost skill by a master of his instrument.
Eight of the album’s twelve tracks are Rob’s own original compositions, with three traditional pieces arranged by Rob, including a very beautiful version of the nineteenth-century tune ‘The Ship that Never Returned’, a slowly played and lower-pitched sad lament that suits the concertina perfectly. There is a huge amount of versatility to this instrument and it has the ability to shift the emotion of a piece of music significantly, but it takes a lot of skill and confidence to hold the attention of the listener for forty-five minutes with one instrument and no vocal. Harbron’s playing is exceptional throughout this set and never less than captivating; he even manages to enchant through a tune written to accompany an Indian one-string fiddle capable of performing only four notes. ‘One String Jig’ is quite hypnotic and almost a drone piece – but with a strong and addictive melody – and utterly delights when it seamlessly slips into its companion piece, ‘Kindling’. You could certainly imagine it as a duo piece, especially with the one-string fiddle, or even performed by Leveret, but it is not necessary to throw anything else at this pure and beautiful piece of music.
‘The Brink of July’ begins the album with a very patient piece that hops like a hare and, through several subtle shifts, carries the listener through a complex pattern of melodies and phrasing. We remain outside for ‘Like a Christmas Tree / Polly in the Wood’, a pair of canine inspired pieces that capture the innocence of the animal while evoking the quietude of a twilit dog walk. The sensation of being soothed by this music is felt from the very start of Meanders, indeed, even from reading the laid back title and unfolding the cardboard packaging to look at the bucolic sleeve design and read simple but somehow integral notes to each tune. And when reading the notes and listening to both parts of ‘Midnight Schottische’, I experienced a feeling of awe mixed with envy; to wake up in the middle of the night with both parts of this gorgeous piece ready to be written takes some skill indeed, as does the ability to carry it unharmed all the way to recording.
Elsewhere, after an upbeat rendition of three Cumbrian hornpipe dances, ‘Calgarth Hornpipe / Keswick Bonny Lasses / Iron & Coke Hornpipe’, the wonderful ‘Mill Lane’ escorts us away from the dance and back into nature. This piece takes us on a crepuscular walk down the lane and the highs and lows of Rob’s instrument enable us to feel the textures of light and shade such a walk would bring. It is a mini rustic journey piece that manages to transplant the listener and erase any idea of a studio, in much the same way Chris Wood and Andy Cutting’s ‘Back at Lusignac’ managed on their Lusignac album. And that escapism is one of the great strengths of Meanders; each track and its little story takes us somewhere different, be it to north-east India or some scrubland in Gloucestershire.
The final third of the album includes the lovely ‘Ship that Never Returned’, coming just after Rob’s own ‘Swimming Tune’, a Cornwall inspired tune taking in the beauty of nature and one’s own mortality; there is something almost humble about the melody refrain that forms the core of this piece that does indeed suggest the passings of the tide and its beautiful power. It is a quietly awestruck tune that leads perfectly onto ‘The Ship’ and from there to ‘Piggery / Alvin’s’, a piece taking us back to rustic land and its animals. This one moves around more than the two before and, instead of an ebb and flow, guides us through more of a welcome sunny ramble. It also takes us to final track ‘January Blackbird’, the shortest here at three minutes and also one of the album’s prettiest. Composed on a winter’s day, ‘Blackbird’ is a slow-paced and spacious number that takes its time to deliver a quiet and considered glimpse of the simple life and the joy of birdsong. It is a tune that doesn’t feel the need to build to a climax or switch and change. Possibly the simplest piece on Meanders in terms of melody and one that came to be finished very quickly, ‘Blackbird’ is a perfect tune to end the album and its deliberate pacing and pin-sharp playing neatly encapsulate the feel of the record as a whole.
Watch Rob performing Brink of July live with Ben Walker:
Upcoming Gigs
Aug 4th Dartington Festival (Rob Harbron & Emily Portman)
Aug 5th Sidmouth Folk Festival (Rob Harbron & Emily Portman)
Aug 6th Sidmouth Folk Festival (Rob Harbron solo)
Aug 8th Sidmouth Folk Festival (Rob Harbron & Ben Walker)
Sept 15th Leonhardskapelle Erkelenz, Germany (Rob Harbron & Ben Walker)
Nov 6th Cecil Sharp House, London (Rob Harbron & Ben Walker)
Dec 12th The New Room, Bristol (Rob Harbron & Ben Walker)
Meanders is available to order now via https://robertharbron.com/music