Eli West – A Tapered Point of Stone
Tender And Mild – 23 April 2021
Many UK folk fans will already be familiar with the work of gifted American multi-instrumentalist Eli West. His long-awaited solo album A Tapered Point of Stone is a fresh, subtle and captivating collection that grows on the listener with repeated spins. The recording features West on vocals, guitar, mandolin and banjo, with a terrific acoustic backing band of Andrew Marlin (Mandolin Orange) on mandolin and guitar, Christian Sedelmyer (Jerry Douglas Band/10 String Symphony) on fiddle, and Clint Mullican (Mandolin Orange) on bass. Apparently, this same line-up was behind the outstanding recent solo releases by both Marlin and Sedelmyer, and the musicians certainly work together as a wonderfully intuitive and skilful team. There are also beautifully judged harmony vocals by Steph Coleman and Julie Fowlis, as well as contributions from Joseph Decosimo, Billy Cardine and Jens Linell. This solo album has been a long time coming. During the six or seven years of his duo with Cahalen Morrison, Eli co-created some of the finest acoustic music of the 21st Century to date, and since then he has released warmly reviewed album collaborations with renowned guitarist Bill Frisell and with Norwegian fiddle ace Olav Mjelva.
Kicking off cheerfully (and unexpectedly!) with classic fiddle “potatoes” the tune Ginny’s Little Longhorn gets the album off to a rollicking start, with fiddle and mandolin runs tumbling up and down the fingerboard and fretboard. The title of up-tempo waltz Brick in the Road was apparently inspired by an old cobbled street in the Welsh borders, a region Eli loves to visit when touring the UK. The lyrics are rather more universal if opaque, conjuring a general feeling of regret and ambiguity. Eli’s beloved father passed away fairly recently and the album notes confirm that this event had a significant effect on the artist and his music (as might be expected), explaining that this album project became a vessel for West to grieve and remember his father’s legacy (West senior was a respected family doctor in the Pacific North-west). “I turned inward, exploring loss,” says Eli. There’s definitely a kernel of grief and mourning at the heart of this album, but it’s leavened by an overarching sense of love and the search for deeper meaning which shine through on the songs, as well as by the unfettered joy of the instrumentals.
I Know Your Wandering Heart sounds like an ancient traditional folk song, the tale of a wandering fiddler flattering a lady he encounters – but in fact it was written by the great Canadian songwriter and banjoist Chris Coole (Lonesome Ace Stringband). Eli makes the song his own with some evocative clawhammer banjo playing, and the addition of Steph Coleman’s shruti box gives the song a slight touch of the mystical. Julie Fowlis contributes fine harmony vocals, with the two voices reflecting the to-and-fro of the protagonists’ conversation. A Tapered Point of Stone is an evocative song that muses on love and mortality, and must surely be unique in including an oblique reference to Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” (the psychological principle depicting human needs as a pyramid, with necessities like food, air and water at the base and harder-to-define needs like love and fulfilment nearer the top). Combining melancholy with optimism, the song muses on the bittersweet, transient nature of life, along with some intimate references to the songwriter’s beloved (Eli got married just a few months ago, another rite of passage). Cwtch is a lovely lilting tune and I have a feeling its Welsh title may refer to a tiny venue/coffee shop in Pembrokeshire that Eli performed at many years ago. The Hearth is another heartfelt song that uses many of the building metaphors that Eli seems to love. A designer by profession, he’s also a talented craftsman (materially as well as musically). Once again there are poetic reminders of our humble place in the grand scheme of things. “I stand alone, a house undone by time”. In a striking change of pace, Johnny Wombat is a charming instrumental that has become an earworm for me in the past few days while listening to the album. It evokes the best of the bluegrass traditions of jamming and improvisation, with plenty of space for these exceptional musicians to stretch out and add individual touches of creativity on their instrumental breaks. The song Hand to Play is full of yearning, tenderness and pain, and was originally released on the Mjelva-West album. This arrangement includes the exquisite harmony vocal of Steph Coleman.
There’s a long run of tunes next, showing off the instrumental chops of these amazing musicians and their delight in playing together. Twin Bridges is a lovely mid-tempo tune that clocks in at an epic 7 minutes. With fiddle taking the lead initially, the mandolin and guitar weave seamlessly around before the six-string takes up the melody. Written by the talented Idaho-based musician and songwriter Ben Winship, it has a stately laid-back groove throughout, with an ambience of homecoming, and a feeling that all is well. Next up is a triple whammy of classic American folk tunes, allowing Eli and the band to really get in the old-time groove. Sweet Marie (originally a popular song apparently, from the turn of the (19th to 20th) Century, kicks off with twin fiddles and is simply joyful. Ora Lee is another classic fiddle tune that has been performed by many folk, bluegrass and old-time artists over the years, and this rendition is quirky and fun (I think this tune is ever so slightly crooked, which adds to its charm). West Fork Gals is a delightful traditional old-time tune (a polka, apparently) that once again glows with joy and sees Sedelmyer leading the way, with mandolin shadowing the fiddle’s every move. To finish up, Three Links of Chain is a buoyant rendition of the old gospel song (“All my sins taken away”) which has been performed and recorded in various guises by many artists over the last century. West’s version includes some peerless flatpicking on guitar as well as lively contributions by the mandolin and fiddle, and rounds off the album in a resplendently upbeat fashion.
Pre-Order Tapered Point of Stone (out on April 23, 2021): http://lnk.to/taperedpointofstone
Photo Credit: Jenny Jimenez