The Wilderness Yet - Album Review & Video Premiere

The Wilderness Yet – The Wilderness Yet

Independent – 24 July 2020

What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
Gerard Manley Hopkins

Their name inspired by the poem Inversnaid by Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Wilderness Yet are an exciting and skilful new trio with Anglo/Irish roots with a sideline in Scandi folk tunes.

It may be a strange time to release a debut record with no gigs or festivals to showcase your chops in public, but this self-titled album has undoubtedly hit a zeitgeist with its subject matter, as many of us are re-learning (or lamenting the loss of) our connection to the natural world. According to the publicity notes it is, ‘a pastoral paean to trees, birds and bees but never far from sounding the warning bells about humankind’s often devastating impact on the environment.’

But as much as it takes on current concerns, the sound is more timeless: a heady mix of traditions with distinctly English-sounding vocals from former BBC Young Folk Award finalist Rosie Hodgson. She commands every song she leads and enhances the Swedish Polska instrumental Hjaltedyrkan with some ‘diddling’ (tune singing).

Sounding like a more smooth-voiced Nancy Kerr at times, Rosie also contributes three songs. Each of them has many merits, but the Beauties of Autumn is a grand opener setting out the album’s stall with references to stags, bucks, squirrels, blackbirds, swallows, gorse and heather.

Rowan Piggott‘s melodious violin sweeps gorgeously across the album, and – as well as being a talented singer – he also contributes double bass. Also performing solo and in a duo with Rosie, Rowan is a past winner of Bromyard’s ‘Future of Young Folk’ Award. And that he may well be, with at least one foot in the past.

Rowan contributes tunes, songs and lyrics to seven of the thirteen tracks. He even seamlessly adds three extra verses to Hopkins’ Inversnaid (set to music and renamed The Wilderness Yet as the penultimate track). It’s a haunting and heartfelt reading with delectable harmony singing from the trio.

But his most exceptional contribution is the bittersweet Queen & Country, a song Rowan originally wrote for his Songhive project, which highlighted the current crisis facing British bees. It ends on a particularly chilling image, considering how important these pollinators are to life on Earth: Where there once was a gate to palace of gold/ Flanked by guards in their striped livery/You’ll find corpses piled high ’cause the honey’s run dry/ To pay those from the mortuary.

Finishing off the trio is Irish music scholar Philippe Barnes, whose skilful guitar playing anchors the tracks, but he also adds colour with his flute, whistle playing and vocals. Alongside his instrumental prowess, Philippe has penned three tunes, starting with the flute-led Chalice Well (paired with Rowan’s The Welcome). He also tops-and-tails Rowan’s jig Poor Hildegard, with Pete’s Jig (dedicated to Pete Lyons, the fiddle player who introduced Philippe to folk music and finishes with Joan Brodie’s, another dedication, this time to his Scottish, accordion-playing granny.

Joan Brodie’s is suitably enlivened by Evan Carson’s bodhran, which he contributes to four other tracks. Meanwhile, two more guests feature from legendary Irish folk group De Dannan: Johnny Ringo McDonagh on bodhran and Rowan’s father Charlie Piggott on button accordion contribute to the instrumental coda to the closing song, Seán Ó Duibhir A’ Ghleanna.

If you enjoyed last year’s The Lost Words: Spell Songs project you will find much to enjoy here in theme and intent. It’s an excellent debut, and hopefully, we will see The Wilderness Yet on a stage again sometime soon. A highly recommended release, and it’s particularly worth purchasing in physical form for the stunning artwork by Adam Oehlers, which complements and completes an outstanding collection from a trio of musicians at the top of their game.

Video Premiere: A Bruton Farmer

Watch their new video for A Bruton Farmer – Shadow puppets by Frances Marriott, Shot/edited by Rowan Piggott

Rowan says:

“We loved this perfectly formed traditional murder ballad which we first heard from James Patterson. Apart from the ultimate attraction of it being in 5/4, it’s a human tale which seemed to fit with the general feel of the album – two brothers who seek to control and oppress their sister through the destruction of her innocent lover, sitting alongside songs about man’s desire to treat our environment similarly.

“When we were trying to decide on which track to make a video for, it seemed like this long narrative would benefit most from illustration. We think Frances’ shadow play compliments the arrangement perfectly…”