Suntrap – Northern Lights
Independent – 22 September 2019
Suntrap is a Surrey-based four-piece that has been in existence in one form or other since 1996. Founder members Sara Byers and Mary Wilson were swiftly joined by Paul Hoad to make a three-piece, then in around 2009 by fiddle player John Sandall. That lineup remained more or less constant until Paul’s departure in 2015, shortly after which Sue Graves came on board, bringing Suntrap back to a four-piece unit. Suntrap’s recorded legacy to date is just four albums – Long Winter Coat, Red Red Shoes, Sweet Fast River and Unravelling, the latter released by Fellside a whole long decade ago. So a fifth Suntrap album, Northern Lights, is now very welcome indeed.
A particular feature of the Suntrap sound and dynamic has always been their gorgeous vocal harmonies, and Sara and Mary’s entirely natural expertise in this department is now supplemented by Sue’s wonderful voice (not for nothing is she known as the Surrey Nightingale!), with the enviable result that Suntrap now boasts three top-quality female singers each capable of taking the lead and supplying fantastic harmony lines that dovetail and shape-shift, weaving around and settling into each other with a stunning combination of imagination and precision. And this attribute alone makes the band pretty much unique in my book. One could assume that this abundance of vocal talent might have an adverse effect, either by swamping the instrumentation or overshadowing the band members’ instrumental prowess or by distracting from the impact or quality of the songs performed. But not a bit of it, for the vocal parts (while inherently luscious) are at all times carefully considered, ideally balanced and considerately arranged (both for performers and listeners), and all backdrops are most sensitively configured – for even when the textures become thicker, the observance of inner dynamics and the keen juxtaposition of elements and timbres is expertly managed.
In essence, the Suntrap instrumental complement is quite modest, comprising two violins, guitar, mandolin, ukulele and accordion, with limited (albeit extremely effective) embellishment from viola, cello, banjo and bodhrán; album producer Tom Evans also contributes (among other things) occasional piano, pedal steel and double bass. The scoring sparkles and delights, with a commendable delicacy that enables the timbres of individual instruments to truly complement the shimmering vocal harmonies and sweet melody lines. The total effect is both mesmerising and enervating, charming and entrancing, gently intimate and thoroughly stimulating. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is to a large extent down to the four group members each being highly proficient on a number of different instruments (for all that John’s the principal bowed-string exponent of the group); consequently there’s quite a bit of switching around between the individual tracks, incidentally pinpointing subtle differences in playing styles without detriment to the overall musical vision. It’s all achieved with an easy expertise, dynamic restraint and – refreshingly – not a hint of overload. It’s also important to note that the “as live as possible” sound of the album was achieved by “recording in the round, using a forest of microphones, rather than layering up the songs in the studio”. Precision and balance thus become all-important concomitant factors in the impact of the group’s music.
The strengths of the band’s repertoire are well represented on the album’s 15 tracks. There’s an equal proportion of self-penned songs and covers (seven of each category), with one brief excursion into trad-arr (of which more below), while on two tracks telling use is made of a segued tune to bring the song to a close. Mary and Sara each contribute three fine new original songs. Mary gives us the beautifully evocative (standout) title track, paying homage to the mystical phenomenon that we may never see but which nevertheless symbolises the elusive love that we set our hearts upon. On Riding High, Mary also encourages to be bold in our quest for the jewelled gems in the darkness, while on Sea Fever she hauntingly sets the familiar words of John Masefield to invoke at once the land-locked person’s dreams of the sea and the bottled bird’s mournful longing for sea-borne freedom, the wave-motion then memorably carrying across into the tune which follows (written by John Sandall). Two of Sara’s compositions – Night Flying and Reeling – loosely share with the CD’s title track the theme of dreaming the unattainable, in entering the world of imagination. The disc also contains a reworking of an earlier song of Sara’s (which originally appeared on the band’s Sweet Fast River album back in 2005) – the cautiously sensual Peacock Skirt, which recalls the guilty pleasure of spending time with someone whose attraction is impossible to resist; in a sense, this also mirrors the central theme of both Night Flying (the pain and passion of a hidden love affair) and Reeling (the inward fantasising of a forbidden attachment, here done in sinuous waltz-time). In contrast, Sara’s remaining song, Michaelmas, is based on folklore surrounding the allegedly cursed fruit of the blackberry.
The covers are a generally enterprising and in the end pretty dependable bunch, mixing the unusual with the well-loved. In the former category, we find Thea Gilmore’s aromatic Midwinter Toast (complete with handbells), Nancy Kerr’s deliciously optimistic Dark Honey (given a fun old-timey banjo setting) and Amos Lee’s chirpy, insouciant yet affectionate Sweet Pea (which Sue got from the singing of Miranda Sykes). At the more familiar end of the spectrum there are songs by Joni Mitchell (Carey), Bob Dylan (Make You Feel My Love), Lennon-McCartney (Here, There & Everywhere) and Anna McGarrigle (Heart Like A Wheel – although, let’s face it, not even the glorious combined harmonies of Suntrap could ever quite match those of the original Sisters’ recording!). The powerful emotional pull of the latter song is further enhanced by the appending of a lovely slow air, Night In That Land, composed by the late Johnny Cunningham. Finally, the trad-arr entry is the timeless Scottish tale of Betsy Bell & Mary Gray, which packs much into its brief timespan through compelling storytelling and sinister harmonisation.
Maybe on balance, I think I’d have liked Suntrap to have included even more original songs, if necessary at the expense of a couple of the covers (not that any of those are anything other than thoughtful, and at the very least significantly better than competent). But in every major respect, Northern Lights is a fabulous “welcome back” record from a band with real charisma, a very definite identity and a veritable wealth of vocal and instrumental talent. And those vocal harmonies are to die for, well nigh incomparable. The disc is impeccably packaged too, with attractive artwork, suitably informative song notes and full track-by-track performer credits. Very highly recommended.
Album Launch of Northern Lights will be at TwickFolk on 22nd September 2019.