Tim Edey – Being Myself
Gnatbite Records – Out Now
Tim Edey has always been prolific, but with being myself marking his fourth solo album release (plus a joint album with J P Cormier) in less than three years, it seems he’s currently in a place that’s super productive even by his standards. For Tim, quantity will never be at the expense of quality and so it is with being myself, the album illustrating as much of Tim’s multi-faceted musical personality as he can pack into eleven tracks. If Tim has leaned more towards his guitar work of late, he certainly makes up for it here. His melodeons feature strongly and he also plays the grand piano, mandola and bass. In fact, apart from percussion and some backing vocals, everything heard on the album comes from Tim. Unlike some of his recent releases, though, he’s handed over-engineering, mixing and production duties to long-time collaborator Robin Wynn Evans at Perthshire’s Tpot Studios.
The album opens at a gallop with a typically Edey, melodeon tune set, Niamh’s Capers, Sporting Paddy and The Wrong Trousers. It is one of those sets that are blended together so naturally that, on first listening, you’re likely to find yourself repeatedly hitting rewind just to find the joins. Or is that only me? Tim’s liner notes don’t just ensure that credit goes where it’s due, where necessary they’ll explain the when and the why of Tim’s connection to the piece. So, we learn that Niamh’s Capers was written by Gerry O’Connor, but Tim learned it from Charlie McKerron during their time together in Session A9. The trad tune, Sporting Paddy, comes from when Tim played in Sharon Shannon’s band and The Wrong Trousers is there because composer Luke Daniels is one of Tim’s favourite accordionists.
The opening tune of the next set changes the mood completely, played on guitar, Phil Cunningham’s Flatwater Fran is slow and lyrical, it couldn’t be more different from the hectic melodeon of the previous set. Tim plays it very straight, picking the melody, but can’t resist a surprise chord just before the pace quickens into tune 2, Waiting for the Federals. As the set progresses a percussive beat is introduced, partly from Robin who gets the percussion credit throughout the album, but also Tim’s rhythmic mandola line. With the final tune of the set, Soldiers Joy, Tim has taken an incredibly well-known fiddle tune and given it a guitar arrangement that reinvigorates the piece, leaving it recognisable but somehow far more interesting.
Next up is the first of the two songs on the album. Nobody Home, is from Cape Breton songwriter, Buddy MacDonald, a tale of migration from the Maritimes to the oil fields of Alberta. It’s no surprise that Tim should include material from Canada, he spends significant time there working with his many collaborators and these musicians, most notably Natalie MacMaster, are the source of several tunes elsewhere on the album. Tim, naturally, takes lead vocal, joined by partner Isobel Crowe on the chorus. Tim’s accompaniment has grand piano to the fore with mandola generally behind but taking the lead to provide linking phrases. The combination is very effective, piano being yet one more instrument that Tim’s mastered. The other song, What A Way To Say Goodbye, is from the pen of Dubliner Enda McCabe, Tim’s life long friend and the source of many of his best-known songs.
The longest piece on the album, The Inishowen Suite, lasts for almost 10 minutes. It was composed by Tim last year at the request of fiddler Roisin McGrory and her family, as Tim puts it, “stalwarts of Donegal music”. In four parts, the suite starts with McGrory’s waltz, Tim duetting with himself on melodeon and piano, a combination which dominates the arrangement all through the suite, slowing down for the air, Grianán of Aileach, becoming distinctly lively for the final section, the reel, Dermot from Burt. This is Tim engaging with one of his passions, writing and playing music inspired by the people and places he treasures. The closing track is another piece that makes a direct connection to a place, Shetland. But more specifically to a tragedy in the seas west of the islands, the loss of the tug Bourbon Dolphin in 2007. Watching news coverage of the accident led Tim to write this emotive piano piece. Tim has never shied away from allowing his music to directly reflect his emotions and using just solo piano here serves to highlight the connection. The depths of his feelings are palpable as one listens.
Tim, in far jollier mood, gives us his guitar arrangement of Gershwin’s You Can’t Take That Away From Me. In performance, he nearly always blames his father when a folk tune has slipped into jazz, explaining further in this album’s liner notes. A childhood spent listening to Bix Beiderbecke, Django Reinhardt and his father’s own playing, left an indelible impression. But that all works to our advantage, leading to tracks such as this, swinging gently once through the melody before heading off into variations that, around two minutes later conclude by repeating just the title line of the melody. They’ve not bothered to edit out the faint laughter that someone in the studio just couldn’t hold in as the last arpeggio fades. And why should they, if you’re not laughing, or at least wearing a beaming smile after listening to this, to quote a jazzman, “honey, you ain’t got soul”. Tim does concern himself, though, about mixing folk and jazz, albeit in a tongue in cheek way. He often mentions about getting into trouble with the folk police, but his music is all the richer for it.
Tim has put a postscript into the liner notes outlining how the album was recorded, the essential points being – 1. Very quickly, only 2 days; 2. ‘live’, that is the take chosen for the base track of each tune was played in one go; 3. Overdubs were done immediately afterwards. Even Tim hasn’t worked out how to play the guitar and piano at the same time. He feels recording this way produces finished tracks that are as close as he can get to how he would play at a show. Having spent quite some time watching Tim at Costa del Folk Ibiza this year I can only agree, this album has captured the essence of Tim Edey. The album’s title is perfect, this is Tim being himself, producing music with the spontaneity, energy, virtuosity and emotion that are the trademarks of his live performances. Tim again shows himself to be a musician who simply cannot be pigeon-holed, neither in terms of the instruments he excels at playing nor the styles of music he chooses. The only relevant pigeon-hole for Tim is one labelled “Brilliant”.
Being myself is available on CD & as a digital download, UK/IE is just £12 inc postage & worldwide inc postage £14 from Tim’s website shop www.timedey.co.uk/shop
It is also available from iTunes and Bandcamp
For details of Tim’s upcoming tour dates please visit: https://www.timedey.co.uk/tour