Moirai – Framed: The Alice Wheeldon Story
Wild Goose – Out Now
Moirai – literally, “spinners of destiny” – comprises Jo Freya, Mel Biggs and Sarah Matthews, three very talented women with a considerable reputation in the folk world. And exceptional singers each one, while instrumentally Jo is a woodwind specialist (clarinet/sax/whistle) best known for her membership of Blowzabella; Melanie is an exceptional melodeonist and is considered a leading light in the world of melodeon teaching, and Sarah is a superb violin player teamed up with Doug Eunson and the band Cupola. Together they are a (refreshingly guitar-less) force to be reckoned with, delivering a very special and distinctive blend of timbres.
Following in the wake of a pair of eminently satisfying CDs – Sideways (2015) and Here And Now (2017) – their latest project might be regarded as a full-blown concept album, in that its songs together tell a particular story. This concerns the plot to murder the then-Prime-Minister David Lloyd George and the Labour Party chairman Arthur Henderson, in 1917: a fantastical plot for which Alice Wheeldon, a strong socialist and staunch peace activist, was framed – both to demonise the peace movement generally and in an attempt to silence any anti-war sentiments considered detrimental to the war effort. A big show trial was held, surrounded by massive publicity, and as a result, Alice and her daughter and son-in-law were imprisoned for conspiracy. Alice went on hunger strike to protest her innocence, was released on licence and died in 1919. And today the campaign to clear the names of Alice and her relatives for this miscarriage of justice is being well supported, and this new Moirai CD will help greatly in raising awareness of Alice’s story.
The impetus for this project came from Sarah, who initially discovered Alice’s story and was inspired to put together this collection of songs. It tells Alice’s story from the viewpoints of various characters as well as presenting a contemporary perspective on the events and issues raised by the injustice, all of which amounts to a conspiracy by the Establishment that seems never to have been acknowledged let alone atoned for.
The vast majority of the album’s songs are original compositions by Moirai members and are suitably idiomatically crafted, predominantly within the area that straddles folk and popular/music-hall-style song and invariably with a keen sense of melody and rhythm with lyrics that combine nostalgia and realism with a thoroughly genuine feeling for, and understanding of, the plight of the protagonists. The Prologue explains the circumstances in which Sarah came across and became inspired by Alice, a common connection having been identified with her family and Derby where she lived and worked. This leads swiftly on to the historical and political context into which Alice stepped, a depiction of the complex range of views that abounded at the time, by means of an inventive conflagration by Jo Freya of three differing sets of lyrics and melodies for the American anti-war song I Didn’t Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier (this was an influential ditty within the pacifist movement that existed in the USA before it entered WW1). Jo then takes on board the involvement of Alice and her three daughters in this movement through the Clarion Cycling Club (the breezy Bottom Up!), before Sarah returns for My Door Is Always Open, a character sketch of Alice herself, a lady of true compassion and principle, which is succeeded by a delectable, if not entirely simple, eight-time waltz tune. A Harry Champion music-hall song forms part of the melodic basis for Proper Gander, an expression of the idealistic lifestyle that Alice and her family (quite reasonably) strived for.
The specifics of the UK political situation then come into focus on the hard-hitting DORA Is Here For You (DORA being the Defence Of The Realm Act, the introduction of which in 1914 had provided a convenient excuse for the government’s persecution of Alice and her family). The mechanism by which this was done, the deployment of an undercover agent working for MI5 for the purpose of manipulation, is related in Perfect Puppet and, after an instrumental interlude, Poison Plot. The latter, by being sung a cappella, enables a bitter, emotionally edgy expression of the entrapment (to especially powerful lyrics here by Jo). Then follows Courtroom Scene, an animated account of the judicial proceedings where it was immediately obvious that the cards were stacked against Alice, and an instrumental piece in an uneven seven-time signature (an ingenious use of an eastern-European-flavoured dance mode) representing Alice’s discomfort, confusion and unsettled feelings.
Sarah then gives us Letter From Hettie to Aunt Lid, based on the words written by Alice’s daughter Hettie (from within prison) to a close family friend; sung to a bleak viola drone, this is an emotional highpoint of the sequence. A subsequent letter from Alice’s youngest daughter Win then forms the inspiration for Win To Hett, a charming and sensitive melodic interlude, before Alice The Soldier (reminiscing on the above-referenced WW1 song) reflects on her situation in prison and her worries for her boy Will and others left “out there”. Her emotions finally rise to anger and frustration on the feisty, defiant What Am I Here For?.
The family’s post-1919 events are chronicled in Round Up, after which we experience Win’s emotional outpouring at Hettie’s death through Jo’s piece Hettie’s Now With Mam. The album’s final song, Ivy And Tulips, though ostensibly written about Alice’s funeral, serves as a fitting celebration of Alice’s life and legacy.
Moirai’s three singers are ideally appointed to convey the range of emotions for this story; the unjustly-maligned Alice herself is especially sympathetically portrayed and characterised both in the performances and the fine original songwriting. The impeccably judged instrumental backdrops – principally fiddle, melodeon and clarinet/sax – provide a gentle texturing and “period” ambience that’s just right too. And Doug Bailey’s excellent house-standard WildGoose production demonstrates a high degree of intuitive rapport between artists and producer/engineer. The album’s presentation is also worthy of special mention – the booklet (design by Mel herself) includes much essential background information as well as a plethora of photographs.
Framed is a fascinating, moving and extremely well-researched insight into a little-known chapter in the history of the peace movement in the UK, the continuing relevance of which in today’s political climate cannot be denied. A very impressive achievement.