The Tweed Project – The Tweed Project (EP)
Haystack – 18 October 2019
To say I came back from Costa del Folk Ibiza enthused by The Tweed Project would be one of my biggest understatements of the year. Their performances had been musically breathtaking and their stage presence radiated excitement. I’m delighted to say the six tracks of this self-titled EP splendidly reflect the skill, variety and energy of those performances. As for stage chemistry, this music will, for sure, get you hankering after a Tweed Project gig and then you’ll experience it for yourself.
The Tweed Project first surfaced back in 2015 when previous winners of the BBC Young Folk Award, Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar from 2013 and The Mischa Macpherson Trio from 2014 joined forces to see what sort of music an Anglo-Scottish hybrid could produce. After playing a number of festivals in 2015 the time pressures from numerous other commitments took their toll and The Tweed Project slipped from view. Until this year, when Ciaran’s itch to play Scottish traditional music became too strong to ignore and a revitalised Tweed Project emerged. This time Greg and Ciaran have teamed with 2017 Young Folk Award winners Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente along with Evan Carson, Ciaran’s colleague from Sam Kelly’s Lost Boys and Ali Levack the third survivor of the 2015 incarnation. With this array of talent, you’d have every reason to expect music of the highest quality and this EP doesn’t disappoint on any level. Well, maybe there’s one – it’s only six tracks!
The tracks are well chosen, though. Each member of the band has a wealth of material behind them from the other projects they’re involved with, but these songs and tunes are arrangements that are pure Tweed Project. The first track is Devil in the Dust, a song from Ed Pickford, a North East England songwriter who has long documented the hardships and deprivations that region has suffered as its industries have been left to decline and its traditional way of life destroyed. In Ed’s hands, the song is a simple but hard-hitting description of the consequences of a life spent breathing coal dust. The Tweed Project lets the lyrics tell their story, Josie’s light voice counterbalanced by an arrangement that with Pablo’s guitar and especially Ciaran’s fiddle, brings in tones of anger and menace. The whole is driven along at a fair lick by the beat of Evan’s bodhrán until the song gives way to a centre section where Ali’s pipes dominate a treatment of Ryan Murphy’s Agent Craig. The song returns for a final verse and repeats of the chorus, the final one with Josie and Greg’s voices in a cappella harmony. As a showcase of the band’s strengths, it’s hard to imagine anything better than this opening.
Two trad tracks follow, The Bleacher Lassie o Kelvinhaugh slows the pace and pares back the instrumentation to give centre stage to Josie’s voice, a voice ideally suited to this ballad. Behind the voice, Greg’s bouzouki and Ali’s whistle both feature strongly. B’fhearr leam fhin again puts the spotlight on Josie’s voice, showing off her Gaelic as well as vocal skills with this piece of puirt à beul. It’s often better not to enquire if there’s any meaning to the lyrics in puirt à beul, but, for that it’s worth, this seems to be all about hens and eggs. Behind Josie’s voice, initially, Pablo’s guitar gently picks out an accompaniment, eventually joined by a lyrical fiddle. Halfway through, the mood changes completely as a bodhrán rhythm rapidly ups the tempo, the voice, keeping pace, is eventually matched by Ali on whistle, and everyone races to the finishing line.
Track 4 is the song that just had to feature on this CD, Dick Gaughan’s Both Sides The Tweed. Written by Dick in 1979, the song, in part, makes use of lyrics that can be traced back to 1819 but which relate to the even earlier 1707 Act of Union that linked together Scotland and England. It’s a beautiful song but during the 300 plus years the Union has lasted, its refrain, Let friendship and honour unite, and flourish on both sides the Tweed has often sounded a hollow note. Fortunately, that sentiment sits comfortably with the ethos of The Tweed Project and the band’s arrangement of the song brings the best out of the tune.
The Gasworks is the only piece written by members of the band, the first of the two tunes in the set coming from Ciaran and the second from Ali. For well over half the almost six-minute long track, Ciaran gets to let rip on his fiddle and, while it may not be traditional, he’s certainly getting his wish to play Scottish music. After Ali has switched from whistle to pipes for the final section, all the band drive the track to a frenetic ending. The result is a piece of fiddle/whistle/pipe music that stands comparison with the best that’s currently being produced in Scotland.
For the final track, Greg takes the vocal lead and it’s Josie’s turn to provide harmony on Tim O’Brien’s song Turn the Page Again paired with the John Reischman tune, Salt Spring. This track, with its bluegrass heritage, so different from what’s gone before, is nevertheless delivered with absolute confidence. Greg’s voice, always powerful, sounds just right for the song, without any need to resort to faux-American intonation and Ciaran’s fiddle adds all the Appalachian-ness that’s needed. The track takes the band’s music in yet another direction and makes it clear their ambitions are by no means restricted to an Anglo-Scottish crossover.
Talking with the band earlier in the year, they were clear that recording was a priority. They’ve clearly pulled out all the stops, turning that ambition into a reality in double-quick time. The minimal packaging, a simple cardboard sleeve, the text just a tracklist, production credits and some grateful “thank you’s” can be taken as a reflection of this. But I’d say it shows they had their priorities right, all their energies and talents are on show in the music and such well-crafted, beautiful music it is too. Right at the start, I mentioned how their live shows add a further layer of delight and they’ll be out for a short tour later this month. If you possibly can, catch one of these shows, your life will be all the richer for it, and, you could take this EP home with you.
Order The Tweed Project via Bandcamp
You can also hear a track on our latest Folk Show (Episode 64) here.
For upcoming dates visit https://thetweedprojectband.com/live
Photo Credit: Graham Coe