Today marks the release of ‘The Brickfields’, the new album from Granny’s Attic, which we recently reviewed here. The Brickfields is their first all-instrumental album, the reasons for which were outlined by violin player Lewis Woods:
“The instrumental side of English traditional music is an absolutely vital part of our music and the wider scene,” says Granny’s Attic violin player Lewis Wood. “We feel that it’s sometimes overlooked, so it’s nice to make an album focusing on this side of the band. When we started playing together, instrumental music was very much our focus, so it’s really interesting to see how we’ve evolved as musicians and composers since then.”
As was made evident in our review, the trio have not only evolved as musicians, they have excelled on this latest offering; “With The Brickfields, they have secured their place as one of the most exciting and accomplished English folk acts on the scene right now.”
To celebrate the album’s release, watch them performing ‘Devil’s Arch’ below, on which they shared the following:
This tune was written by our melodeon player Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne as a tribute to an infamous railway tunnel in our home city of Worcester, variously known as ‘The Devil’s Archway’ or ‘The Devil’s Arch’. A Worcester folktale tells that you can summon the Devil by standing in the tunnel at midnight and reciting the Lord’s Prayer backwards.
This is one of the nine tracks that we recorded for our latest album of instrumental material, ‘The Brickfields’. Musically, it is quite different to many of the other tunes on the album in its use of the Dorian Mode and a 9/8 time signature.
Much of the material on ‘The Brickfields’ was developed while we were still in lockdown in separate places across the country, and many of our initial rehearsals were slightly chaotic affairs using Skype! The arrangement for ‘Devil’s Arch’, however, really took shape once we managed our first in-person rehearsals, and we were able to listen closely to what each other was playing. We really found we could bounce off each other in a way that is only possible in a live setting. With this one, we tried to think carefully about our use of dynamics, texture and form in the arrangement to do all we could to bring out the atmospheric qualities of this spooky tune. Our producer Ian Stephenson helped to refine the tune further in the recording process, and this wonderfully produced video was also filmed by him at Simpson Street Studios in Northumberland.
The Brickfields is out today – 8th October 2021.
Order the album here: https://www.grannysattic.org.uk/shop/
Photo Credit: Will Killen