Fishclaw – Feil
Independent – 4th June 2021
The place of augmented reality technology in music is not often discussed. AR is generally seen as something that can be written about by composers or songwriters rather than an integral part of the music-making process. It is something to be inspired by in an abstract sense rather than something that can change the way we listen. A cursory search for ‘augmented reality’ in Bandcamp, for example, brings up dozens of results, the vast majority of which are tracks or albums that respond to the technology in various ways without ever engaging with it directly. It seems like AR and music get along perfectly well as long as they don’t get too close.
Colchester based six-piece experimental folk group Fishclaw see it a little differently. They are keen to make use of the possibilities of AR in a way that is both more practical and more rewarding. Their latest EP, Feil, is part of their wider Ash project, which uses an AR app to bring listeners closer to the natural world and create an individual listening experience, one based on the geography and folklore of the East Anglian landscape, but constantly changing and always unique. It’s worth quoting them to get an idea of the scale and ambition of the project: ‘We are creating an Augmented Reality App that uses GPS data to trigger sounds in order to create an immersive listening experience for a range of woodland locations. The soundscape can be mapped out as the listener wanders through different parts of the woodland; each musical element overlaps, intensifies and fades creating a truly personal soundscape.’
This all has an ecological as well as an aesthetic aspect – one of the project’s aims is to bring attention to the plight of the native ash tree and the ravages of ash dieback, which is set to cause a 95% drop in the tree’s numbers and leave a massive hole in the woodland ecosystem.
So, the project is a big one, with moral implications and with an aspiration to educate as well as entertain. But underneath it all is the music, and if the music isn’t good enough then the whole enterprise is jeopardised. Thankfully, with Fishclaw at the helm, we are in capable hands. Their second album (last year’s Monmouth’s Twelve) gave some indication of their uncompromising, iconoclastic approach to folk music. There aren’t too many bands who are capable of bringing together funky basslines, pretty-as-a-picture flourishes of acoustic guitar, post-rock builds, pulsing dance beats and minimal electronics. Fishclaw can do it in the blink of an eye.
That album was influenced by the writing of David Toop, an influential voice in the world of sound art, musique concrete and hauntology, and on Feil the band seem to have further embraced the world of experimental music. Opener The Lyring marries up a drone with some beautiful viola (Jos Dow) and a nervous drum pattern like something out of Aphex Twin’s dreams. The piece has an immersive sweep to it, a discernible structure. It rises and falls a couple of times like a long, slow, non-human heartbeat. This is something of a trademark for the band, and it becomes even more apt given the EP’s close relationship with woodlands – there is a slow growth to this music, a movement at the edge of human consciousness, that is strangely tree-like.
Ørn, is a wonky, disconcerting take on a hornpipe, which shows just how uncanny, how fundamentally different, folk music can be without ever losing sight of its traditions. The woozy opening sounds like a lost Angelo Badalamenti/David Lynch collaboration before a measure of relief comes in the form of Simon Keep’s drunken-sailor accordion. The brief interlude Walk (With Me) has a similarly off-kilter feel – at first, it seems like something dreamt up by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, but on closer inspection, it feels more organic than that, something that explores the subtle differences between composing and programming. It shifts with barely a breath into the title track, where Pete Rowley’s spacious drumming and Dow’s minimal viola are soon overcome by a wash of instrumentation, including some exhilarating bursts of whistle courtesy of Shari Stacher. It all eventually gives way to a low, decaying drone that trails off like thunder. It provides another example of how effectively this band can build a landscape that is almost physical in its presence.
Taghairn (composed by Keep and Stacher along with guitarist Rory Hobbs) is more delicate in its approach (listen below), building up a lacework of intricate acoustic guitar, mandolin, airy strings and whistles before the accordion deftly takes up the melodic motif in the track’s second half, aided by some fancy fretless bass by guest musician Charlie Charlton. The short, gentle Numenius uses Hobbs’ guitar to create a whispering refrain. It is the most bucolic thing here, but it is not without its darkness. Underneath it all, a result of Fishclaw’s characteristic layers of production, is a soft sibilant sigh of white noise.
We are back in boldly experimental territory for the final track Beuim, with its broken drum beats. The high, keening whistles and strings barely hint at conventional melody: this is something wild and elemental but anchored by technology and modernity of thought. A few spaced-out seconds of retro synth serves as a fitting full-stop for the track and the EP as a whole, and points towards the band’s growing preoccupation with electronics and minimalism. This seems like natural outward growth rather than a new direction, and Dow credits composer and producer Jim Sutherland (who, along with writer James Canton, is a main player in the Ash project) with this side of their development.
With the exception of some sampled speech at the end of Taghairn, Feil is entirely instrumental. It ebbs and flows from track to track, facilitating complete immersion and emphasises the qualities of depth and slowness – qualities that the listener must also learn to capture. The result is something like the musical equivalent of the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku – forest bathing. Even listening to it in the comfort of one’s own home is a transportive, strangely moving experience.
Pre-Save Feil: https://lnk.to/feil
Read more about the ASH project and AR App here: https://holkham.squarespace.com/ash
They are currently beta-testing the AR App, to find out more, please email: fishclaw@outlook.com