Road Not Taken – Fragment
Self-Released – Out Now
Chances are you may not have heard of Road Not Taken, but there’s a good chance that’s about to change. Not only because you are reading this review, but also because they certainly deserve wider recognition.
Formed to play a support slot at the Downend Folk Club in 2014, they have spent the last five years growing a favourable following around the Bristol folk scene. Increasing festival appearances and gigs have finally found them in a studio to record the repertoire that they’ve honed on the road.
The four-piece band comprises of Anita Dobson on lead vocals, Claire Hamlen on fiddle, guitarist Ant Miles and Joe Hamlen providing bass, banjo and harmonium. And what’s clear is that this is definitely a band, not a project or a collective who come together between other musical commitments. There is a coherence and a comradery in their approach, which is mostly to perform intricate arrangements of traditional, and traditional-sounding songs.
Fragment is made up of six traditional songs, two originals by Dobson and a cover of the Suzanne Vega classic The Queen and the Soldier, which closes the collection. The band is built around Anita’s classy and pure vocals, which have a timeless and placeless quality. Matching her is Claire’s quite remarkable fiddle which soars as well as any on the folk scene right now.
Joe adds texture and tone with his variety of instrumental flourishes which keep the arrangements surprising. The backbone is Ant who keeps the group together with his assured finger-picking acoustic guitar, much the same as Simon Nicol in Fairport.
The album opens with a subtly divergent arrangement of the familiar traditional ballad, The Blacksmith. The banjo and vocal intro soon burst into glorious new life after 30-seconds, as the full band joins in. It’s hard to find something fresh in such a well-worn traditional song, but Road Not Taken prove that these songs will morph and bend, but never break. In fact, they will outlive us all…
I’ll Weave My Love a Garland, is a more dreamy, stately arrangement that really allows Dobson’s vocals to shine, given free flow from a sensitive and soaring backing. It’s six minutes that really fly by and reward multiple listens. If you can keep your finger off repeat, you will be rewarded with the first original song, The White Gown. Although listeners without the sleeve notes might search for a traditional source of the song, such is its authenticity. It’s a definite highlight, weaving in and out of a bagpipe tune, The Men of Argyll – here played as a banjo/fiddle duel.
The familiar My Love is like a Red, Red Rose is authentically romantic and lilting. Which leads to another highlight, a sinister and otherworldly reading of Hares on the Mountain paired with Devlin’s Favourite. I think I hear a kalimba rhythmic opening to the next track, William Taylor, soon accompanied by plucked violin. This gives a dreamy music box ambience to this murder ballad, cleverly counterpointing the grisly events it relates.
Meanwhile, The Grey of the Water – the other original – is outright heartbreaking with a furious and frightening fiddle coda. The aforementioned The Queen and the Soldier closes the collection and fits in well with the traditional approach of the rest of the material.
Credit must also be offered to Lukas Drinkwater whose extensive experience has helped to shape this material as producer, and by offering his enhancing musical touch on bass, percussion and additional guitar. This is an album with many highs, with even the more familiar material sounding fresh in the band’s capable hands. Let’s hope this is just a start of their recording journey, as this is a road that’s definitely well worth taking.
More: https://roadnottaken.co.uk