Band of Burns – The Thread
October 2019
Caledonia’s bard, Robert Burns (1759) has long been the inspiration for musicians the world over. The prolific lyricist, poet and song collector was the “18th Century equivalent of a hit factory when it came to the production of songs” according to author Andrew O’Hagan. Pioneer of the Romantic movement, a proudly political animal and a notorious womaniser, he was highly admired by Beethoven and various classical composers have interpreted his songs.
Burns was also “a mass of contradictions” in the words of Kevin Williamson and despite his wide-reaching celebrity in the twenty-first century, he suffered a similar fate to that of his father, dying penniless. With an unparalleled artistic vision and a biography that scans like its own provocative folk saga, it’s no wonder he has won the hearts of so many traditional performers.
His work and philosophies have proved particularly resonant with the Band of Burns, a twelve-piece strong ensemble who have been bringing his spirit to audiences across the UK. The bones of the band came together after a couple of braw Burns Night celebrations at Wilton’s Music Hall, London. Realising their shared potential and the poet’s enduring appeal, Alastair Caplin and a couple of original members decided to go big.
Initially intended as a one-off collaboration, Caplin & co invited further musical accomplices in on the act for a pair of concerts at The Trinity Centre, Bristol and London’s Union Chapel. A live recording of the latter followed a year later in January 2018. Live at Union Chapel wonderfully captures the band’s onstage energy and exemplary musicianship. Like a rolling Burns supper celebration, the banter, tales and tunes are free-flowing and the crowd is as vocal throughout as you might expect.
After regrouping at Watercolour Studios in Ardgour, Scotland last year, the band pooled their influences together to record their debut album, The Thread. Burns’ ‘messages of equality, Love, and a common human objective’ are the binding higher links of the music from which the album takes its title. Its 13-tracks include originals, Burns classics and the band’s own interpretations of his poems, some set to music here for the very first time. Made up of English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish and Turkish touring artists, readers may well recognise some familiar faces within the line-up.
Musical director Alastair Caplin (Violin / Viola / Keys / Vocals) seems something of a common thread himself, tying many of the musicians here together. He performs with the gypsy-swinging Langan Band, who’s members John Langan (Guitar / Cajon / Vocals) and David Tunstall (Double Bass / Border Pipes / Mandolin) are a vital part of the Burns project. Ewan Macdonald (Violin / Cittern / Mandolin) and Lewis Murray (Violin / Viola) of Caplin’s pan-Celtic passion-project, 58* North also join The Odd Beats’ Dila Vardar (Bells / Vocals). Vardar’s exotic blend of ‘Turkish turbo-folk’ works well within the mix, alongside the gifted flair of Liverpudlian player Mikey Kenney (Fiddle / Vocals).
Balladeers Adam Beattie (Guitar / Double Bass / Vocals) and Dominie Hooper (Cello / Vocals) also prove integral players, Beattie’s soft early-jazz vocal stylings and old-time bent a standout alongside Hooper’s lush, slick harmony arrangements. Hooper collaborators, Ellis Davies (Guitar) and Ríoghnach Connolly (Irish Flute / Whistle / Vocals) of the genre-defying Honeyfeet make up another part of the fold. Celebrated for her work with The Breath and Afro-Celt Sound System, BBC Folk Award Nominee Ríoghnach’s rare presence makes itself well known across this collaboration. Connolly’s cousin, Bodhrán player Feilimí Devlin keeps it all locked in, with Matthew Organ dealing with live sound and completing our line-up.
The tender strain of Ca’ the Yowes opens The Thread. A Burns songbook staple, listeners may well be familiar with Shirley & Dolly Collins’ Anthems in Eden take or Joanna Newsom’s live rendition and here strings and stacked harmonies lift it to equally elegant heights. Hooper’s sweet tumbling ornamentation on “Till clay-cauld death shall blin’ my e’e” stirs our attention before it all drops away to bare acapella. The Langan Band’s downtrodden trad seeps through on To Ruin next. The natural musicality of the poem’s Scots tongue charmingly fits the arrangements bleak minor key creep, Vardar’s higher harmony butting heads with Langan’s lead.
Fans of the Live at Union Chapel album will recognise Now Westlin Winds and Parcel o’ Rogues. The former, reminiscent of Dick Gaughan’s timeless interpretation, is slightly laboured in comparison and lighter on its feet, with Connolly’s gorgeous phrasing and soulful delivery illuminating the bucolic scene. It’s a delightful respite before the severity of Parcel o’ Rogues.
A viola intro skids into the solemn march of Langan and Kenney’s duet. Its nationalist sentiments sound really quite sinister in the hands of these singers, but as Devlin’s Bodhrán and Tansay Omar’s percussion bore deeper, the strings surge and it boldly develops with just as much hold as Steeleye Span’s 1973 Rogues in a Nation cut. Before the thick border pipes and evocative reels of Highlander’s, Hooper, Vardar and Connolly lead To Daunton Me, a three-part rebuke chosen to challenge Robert’s rake reputation. When FRUK premiered the single Dominie offered this explanation:
“During Burns’ lifetime, the idea that a man could have many lovers was widely accepted. However, women who made these same choices were treated with derision and animosity. With this poem, we uncovered a different insight. It’s written from the perspective of a woman making a bold statement about not being controlled or persuaded by men with power and money – it felt incredibly relevant in light of the current gender-political climate. Written in 1788, it’s compelling to us that a man at this time would have the desire to convey a message that women should be able to choose their future based on personal choice rather than financial and social security”
To Daunton Me is a wonderful example of how the Band are able to frame Burns’ ideals in a contemporary context and again question the inconsistencies in the icon’s nature. Backed by a heavy-hearted acoustic, Kenney’s Theremin-pitched warble during The Slave’s Lament painfully channels the protagonist’s sorrow, before the slow-drawn close of, “and I think on friends most dear, with the bitter, bitter tear, And alas! I am weary, weary O”.
On BBC Sounds’ Travelling Folk, Adam Beattie elaborated on the inclusion of his original tune, Stripped to the Bone: “We kind of tried to imagine as in the spirit of Burns, how he would feel about current day affairs. So that was a song I wrote about the refugee crisis. I thought it had enough of a Celtic, but also a bit of an Eastern thing that would work well with the musicians”. Echoing Burns’, A Man’s a Man for A’ That, it’s another moving, pertinent listen:
“If this is a man
Then so it be
He’s just as often here
As he’s prospering and free
It must be nature’s law
To be so high on a throne
Then to fall so low
Stripped to the bone”
With its alternating bars of six and four, it’s also another example of the ways in which these arrangements keep you on your toes. The unrest of Ay Waulkin O features a brief, yet uplifting violin solo from Caplin, which is followed by the wild turns of Charlie is my Darling; its cajun 9/8 feel coming to a close with a masterful, three-pronged violin/mandolin/electric guitar harmony. Elsewhere, Kenney’s sensitive air Red Jura beautifully unfolds before running into the quick spring pep of The Dusty Miller and the record’s grand finale, Coleman’s Fireproof Depository.
Inspired by a “fireproof storing house for furniture, valuables and most importantly… instruments” found just outside Liverpool’s city centre, the track is an entirely different beast when compared to Kenney’s solo Reverie Road version. As a cajon backbeat sets the band in motion, they’re heard in full force, awash with synths, gnawing electric and led by a spirited lead melody on pipes and violin.
From the root of a traditional-sounding tune – tastefully arranged with an unusual fusion of folk and electronic instrumentation – once more, they produce an impassioned piece of music, with a real contemporary edge. Deliberate, challenging and endlessly creative, you’d be hard pushed to handpick a dozen multi-instrumentalist that could do such a fine job with the broad palate of the ‘chameleon poet’s’ life work as the Band of Burns.
Dr Fred Freeman once wrote, “Burns is thought of as a collector of old Scottish melodies and airs, to which he set his own words or adapted old ones. But there is more to Burns. He was a composer and arranger of consummate skill. He could take a jaunty tune and turn it into a smooth air. He could detect the basic essence of a melody, and by doing so stand it on its head. And he could, most importantly, re-create tunes from fragments and motifs” It needn’t be repeated that our rabble share much more with the bard than just their title. Their gift is deep-seated and The Thread stands as a remarkable tribute. The Burns clan grows larger still.
Pre-Order The Thread via Bandcamp: https://bandofburns.bandcamp.com/album/the-thread
Upcoming Dates
5th October – Ancient Technology Centre, Cranborne, Dorset
11th October – Grand Junction at St Mary Magdalene’s, London (Album launch)
Ticket links: https://www.bandofburns.com/tour