Alden Patterson & Dashwood – Waterbound
Self Released – 23 April 2020
After spending the past two years touring five countries, the hard-working Norwich-based folk-Americana trio Alden Patterson & Dashwood (Christine Alden, Alex Patterson and Noel Dashwood) had decided that their third album release should go some way to representing their live show – so Waterbound is a live set. Well, not exactly – at least, in the sense that there’s no audience, no formal stage setup. But it’s been recorded live in the studio, with all three musicians playing and singing together in the one room, and there’s been no editing or overdubbing (what’s more, all but one of the tracks used the first of just two takes). The whole thing was recorded and mixed in just ten hours on a wintry day in December last year. So those all-important qualities of spontaneity and togetherness come across brilliantly, and in spades, on the resulting nine-tracker (effectively, an EP in all but name). It really does represent the threesome at their most invigorating, and demonstrates exactly why their sparkling live act has won so many folks over (including, notably, those diehard Show Of Hands fans!) ever since the unexpected runaway success of their 2016 debut Call Me Home, which itself set the bar pretty high.
Alden Patterson & Dashwood’s hallmark is their bright and exhilarating, and yet intimate performance style, which is characterised by honest, robust and directly expressive vocals and assured and refreshingly unshowy musicianship making best use of a simple and attractive easy integration of elements (dobro, fiddle and guitar). The winning nature of their material then provides the clinching factor in their all-round appeal. As is AP&D’s custom, then, Waterbound convivially mixes self-penned songs (generally, although not exclusively, inspired by local East Anglian landscapes or nature) with the occasional instrumental penned by Alex and a small handful of traditional numbers, these invariably coming in expanded or personally reworked versions. The only one of the new album’s nine tracks previously outed is the genial jig-rhythmed instrumental The Old Priory, which has been extended just a little from its original incarnation on the Call Me Home album and here is taken at an even brisker tempo. That very quality only very occasionally feels a touch over-driven, but to be fair, it’s best indicative of the excitement of the moment – and the band’s dynamism – as opposed to any undue impatience. There’s also an overriding sense of purpose to their music-making which is very refreshing indeed.
The set starts as it means to go on with Seven Years, an original group adaptation of traditional song The Rambling Sailor, where a rippling “watery” swaying motion carries Christine’s voice along. An urgent, rushing fiddle motif breezes in, as on the wings of birds, to accompany Winter Came, which was originally inspired by the attempts of buntings to escape through a window but which becomes a meditation on the freedom of movement. Fine though these two songs are, however, the album’s jewel is probably The Broads In December: with lead vocal by Noel, this gentle observational seasonal portrayal of the East Anglian landscape possesses something of the aura of Johnny Flynn’s Detectorists theme, not least in its captivating melodic interest and harmonised refrain.
Little Red Canoe is another of those intelligently reworked traditional songs, this time AP&D provide extra words, a new chorus and tune to the lesser-known old-time song The Gumtree Canoe on which it’s based; with Christine and Alex in harmony and Noel providing the vocal response, this is a satisfyingly intricate arrangement for which the scintillating playing and unusual time-signature provide ample musical interest. The disc’s second instrumental, The Dyeing Room, is a thumping little piece in jig-time which was named after a functional room belonging to Alex’s mother whose trade is making textiles with dyed fabric. And for the disc’s finale, Alden Patterson & Dashwood take a comparably animated, even more good-time approach for their vigorous, high-octane take on the shanty Blow Boys Blow, which Alex learnt from the singing of Phil Beer.
Although Alden Patterson & Dashwood are skilled and confident instrumentalists, they allow themselves to concentrate on their special blend of interlocking power and accomplishment as a cappella singers in close harmony for just two brief tracks here. Starry Crown is one of the many variants of the stirring gospel-themed number, impeccably and joyously done to a simple handclap rhythm, whereas Waterbound itself (that’s the song of that name learnt from Kathy Kallick’s celebrated old-style-bluegrass outfit Good Ol’ Persons, as opposed to the more familiar Waterbound we know from the singing of the likes of Dirk Powell, Sarah Jarosz and The Fretless) displays a similarly vital mode of delivery.
Waterbound has been entirely self-funded through touring, and Alden Patterson & Dashwood have lavished just as much love and care on the package for this live album as they did on its predecessors – in a homespun format entirely consistent with these, it’s presented in a handmade-printed card case, each copy individually numbered.
Watch them performing The Dyeing Room live in Gower, Wales:
Order Waterbound here: https://aldenpattersonanddashwood.com/shop/