Back in 2018, The Trials of Cato made a big splash with their debut album Hide and Hair – Mark Radcliffe described the trio as “…one of the real discoveries on the folk circuit in recent times” while John Davis, the mastering engineer who worked with Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin remasters called them “The Sex Pistols of folk”.
Formed in Beirut, where Tomos Williams, Will Addison and Robin Jones were working in Lebanon as English teachers, the band went on to win the BBC Radio 2 ‘Album of the Year 2019’ followed by some heavy touring across the UK, Europe, and North America (you can watch our video interview with them at Folk by the Oak that year here).
While the pandemic may have put a halt to any touring, the band have still taken a new creative leap. Will Addison has left the band and been replaced by multi-talented instrumentalist and singer Polly Bolton. Having seen Bolton perform as a member of The Magpies, her nimble fingers (which master the fretboard of the mandolin, banjo and Irish bouzouki) will certainly add a new and exciting dynamic to the trio…as will her fantastic vocals. Johnny Whalley sang her praises in his review of The Magpies debut album Tidings and, as she tells us below, she has been forging a new sound which is sure to be a welcome addition to The Trials of Cato.
On joining the band, Polly told us:
“I’m thrilled to be joining The Trials – I feel like everything in my career so far has been building up to this point. I worked on my solo project a lot last year and started forging a sound that I was really excited about. I’ve always loved The Trials of Cato’s power-folk vibe, so when they approached me about joining the band I knew that this was going to be the perfect outlet for that new sound. It felt like we already shared a creative vision, but when we played together for the first time we knew that we were onto something really special.”
The good news is that we don’t have to wait to hear or see the new formation in action. Below, you can watch the accompanying video for their new single Bedlam Boys which is released on all streaming platforms tomorrow – 31st March and is the first release from their forthcoming new album out later this year (more on below).
Bedlam Boys is a haunting take on a mysterious 17th Century ‘mad song.’ The unsettling piece has its gnarled roots in the poem ‘Tom o’ Bedlam,’ considered ‘the greatest anonymous lyric in the English language.’ The track incorporates a short sample of the Steeleye Span song Boys of Bedlam from the iconic 1971 record Please to See the King. The result is a beguiling broth of grotesque history and dancing instrumental interplay. This trio of power-folk pioneers may be steeped in a rich background of traditional music, but Bedlam Boys is the perfect example of their commitment to bending the barnacled frame of the tradition into something contemporary and seductive. They tell us:
“We’ve always loved the surreal vibe of the traditional English folk song ‘Boys of Bedlam’. It’s a tale of madness, fairies and giants, and in our version, we wanted to create a soundscape which captured this otherworldly energy. We’re huge fans of Steeleye Span’s 1971 version, and the band were even gracious enough to let us pitch-shift and distort a short sample which appears in the introduction to our track.
“It’s been such a hard year in so many ways, but music is always a journey. It feels like the time to make big changes and take creative leaps forward. We’re all so on the same page musically, and it’s amazing to be forging this sound together which feels so fresh and at the same time so totally comfortable – so totally the music we are meant to be making.”
Watch the accompanying video which was filmed at Cambridge Junction by Matt Coles (it was recorded by Isaac McInnis, mixed by Donald Richard, and mastered by John Davis). That new dynamic is obvious from the off…we’re certainly looking forward to hearing more.
The band’s hotly-anticipated second album is scheduled for release later this year. Entitled Gog Magog, the album is named both after the mythical giant of Arthurian legend and the Cambridgeshire hilltop, where the new album was birthed over lockdown. After the imposed live silence of 2020, The Trials of Cato are delighted to be presenting new music again — original creations alongside bold reimaginings of the British tradition.
Keep up with them here: https://www.thetrialsofcato.com/