Amy Thatcher – Let What’s In, Out
Independent – 17 November 2021
Amy Thatcher is best known for her close work with Kathryn Tickell as well as The Shee and those electro-folk fusion giants, the Monster Ceilidh Band. One thing they all share is an upfront stage presence that directly engages the feet of their audiences. In contrast, Amy’s long-awaited follow-up to her 2019 album Solo (reviewed here) is an incredibly grounded offering but not without its foot shuffling moments. It serves as a reminder that we all face challenges in life, the language she uses to convey this is an inventive imagination and musical notes.
Anyone that has watched Amy perform on stage will testify to her intuitive musicianship (as I mentioned recently when we shared her project with percussionist Fran Knowles). That intuition is no less dramatic in this solo offering during which she plays all the instruments, including piano accordion, synths and percussion. She makes striking use of structure and texture to convey emotions as she does on the opener ‘Look At You Now’, the video for which we premiered yesterday. In 2019, Amy gave birth to twins Gwen and Jay. They were 11 weeks premature, and Amy was on tour in Germany at the time.
She recalls: “I didn’t know how to feel. It was the uncertainty in the few days before the birth, with both the prematurity of it and the unfamiliarity of the hospital, the different protocols and the upset to your routine. Once they were born, I felt so grateful that they were being looked after so well, and lucky to be where we were. At 10 weeks and 6 days early, Gwen at 1370g and Jay at 1450g were born on 26th October 2019 and were, considering the circumstances, very healthy. They then spent the first 52 days of their life in Berlin. It’s hard to describe all my feelings about the time I spent over there but seemingly all at the same time, it was an anxious, stressful, exciting, adventurous, romantic, content and bloody lovely two months!”
All of those emotions are conveyed through the music of Look At You Now. She uses synth and percussion from the opening bars to translate that heightening fear of the unknown over which she plays a repeated piano refrain. Halfway through, the mood of the piece changes and lightens to one of relief as we hear her beloved accordion for the first time. It ends on a very personal and touching moment with Amy humming a tune that she used to sing to her firstborn and here hums it over the twin’s cots. While the experience was quite an ordeal, Amy also realised how common this was, which is why the album is being released today on World Prematurity Day. The album will help raise awareness, offer some comfort to those who have been through similar experiences and help to fundraise for Bliss, a charity that helps to give premature babies the best possible start in life.
After that emotional start, we are offered some respite with a Geordie parody via Nee Musette, Pet, a 3/4 waltz whose humourous title won’t be lost on fellow piano accordion players. A Musette is a chorus-like effect created by two reeds slightly tuned apart – the piano accordion has no such feature.
The Unheard gives us more pause for thought, opening to a beautiful and restful accordion piece accompanied by bird song. In her EP notes, Amy says, “On any media, we hear so many stories, so many opinions, attitudes and beliefs that it’s easy to forget about the people you don’t hear about.” The opening tune seems to represent the quiet ones, those at peace with themselves and with no crushing desire to “shout” through social media. As with the EP opener, The Unheard slowly transforms as a mounting beat, drone and synth, a slow-building barrage that obscures the melody. If you could ever represent the relentless interference and grating noise that social media has become, then this is it. She says: “This is for people who don’t shout or share”, something I’m sure many of us can relate to.
The EP ends on the sprightly dance-folk fusion of Finn’s Reel, which feels like an immense release, a letting go and having fun. The last two years may well have flown with little time left for Amy to be creative. This EP and her side project with Fran Knowles is maybe the best indication that she has finally been able to let go, something which leads us nicely back to the EP title – Let What’s in, Out – it has so many possible contexts to moments Amy has shared here that it really is the perfect title.
Over four beautifully parcelled tracks, with not a word to be heard, Amy Thatcher manages to convey moments of serenity and emotional turbulence through top-class musicianship and imparts some food for thought along the way.
Amy Thacher is in a class of her own. Welcome back.
Order Let What’s In, Out via Bandcamp: https://amythatcheraccordion.bandcamp.com/
More here: https://amythatcher.co.uk/