Dom Prag – Needle and Thread
Self Released – 25 February 2022
Southampton-born singer/songwriter/guitarist Dom Prag was originally trained in classical guitar, but from his early teens, he left the specialist classical repertoire behind and took off into another territory – blues and self-penned songs – yet all the while developing his mastery of the classical style of playing (and retaining nylon strings, a feature which has given his style its distinctive flavour and a personal sound that sets him apart from other folk musicians).
Dom spent his formative years gigging around Brighton, then launched his debut recording, the striking and impressive calling-card EP Talitha & Other Songs, in December 2015; this release consisted exclusively of self-penned compositions and paved the way for three years of hard gigging, where he took the UK’s folk clubs and festivals by storm. Dom also spent 2016 and 2017 collaborating with poet Robyn Bolam and fellow-musician J.C. Grimshaw on the Ferry Tales project on the Isle Of Wight; two songs from this project were to surface on Dom’s 2018 debut full-length album Young Man On A Ferry. That album was extraordinarily fine, although not easy to bracket for review purposes. I recall first being absolutely knocked out by Dom’s forcefully thrusting fingerstyle guitar playing, definitely influenced by both classical and flamenco but at the same time sensitive in its intricacy and, in the end, very much Dom’s own. But then it wasn’t long before I also became in the thrall of his compelling original songwriting, which took a mature slant when expressing a youthful nihilistic stance. That album also contained a brace of robust, driven takes on traditional songs, including a particularly storming (pun intended!) Cold Haily Windy Night, and in contrast, a delicate setting of the Keats poem Meg Merrilies.
Young Man On A Ferry was a hard act to follow, and two years of lockdown seems to have provided Dom with some unique and perhaps unexpected opportunities. In July 2020, Dom moved onto a narrowboat, soon (while moored at Banbury) becoming involved in a local social-history project concerning Banbury’s canals and their industries and people. The pace of life on the canals, in turn, afforded him the time and space to reflect and refine his musical vision, building on his known strengths and further developing his technique to build towards the making of that “difficult second album”. And Dom was doubly fortunate in securing the services of Phil Beer to produce this album, despite all the difficulties imposed by Covid restrictions. If I say that Phil’s professional touch has taken Dom’s rough diamond and polished it into something more approaching a gleaming jewel, that’s not meant in any way to denigrate or criticise the album or to unintentionally underplay or undersell Dom’s considerable personal achievement here. I could say that (except for one track) it’s a warmer, less overtly intense-sounding set than either of its predecessors, but for all that, it comes across as less edgy, less rough-hewn, that’s not to give the impression of lesser impact or lesser worth.
Phil’s expert production ensures that the signature elements of Dom’s musical personality are preserved, retained at all costs. His outstanding guitar playing is there in all its glory, with its wonderfully assured and natural-as-breathing incorporation of classical-inflected gestures and (where necessary) an uncompromising emphasis on bass strings and a well-defined sense of rhythmic propulsion, yet at the same time a willingness to control dynamics and shading in moments of uncanny delicacy. And there’s also Dom’s strong and passionate singing, that of a born storyteller-in-song, which, like his playing, exhibits an intuitive command of light and shade.
Dom’s new album marks something of a shift towards traditional repertoire, although there are still three of Dom’s excellent original songs on the tracklist (and for the first time, an original instrumental piece, The Shoemender’s Tune, inspired by and segueing into a Turlough O’Carolan tune that Dom’s father used to play on classical guitar). The album’s opening pair of songs demonstrates Dom’s versatility in his treatment of traditional material. Contrast here Dom’s passionate rendition of the transportation saga Van Diemen’s Land with his tender delivery of the traditional ballad Lovely William, learnt from John Doyle and set to the tune of Irish ballad The Maid Of Culmore.
These pure, unadulterated guitar-and-vocal tracks are followed by a stirring unaccompanied take on the Luddite-themed Foster’s Mill, where Dom’s voice is joined in accomplished harmony by Rowan Piggott and Rosie Hodgson of the trio The Wilderness Yet. This is followed by a spectacularly spine-tingling, close-focused interpretation of The Brisk Lad (aka The Sheepstealer), where Dom truly inhabits the persona of the desperate protagonist forced to break the law in order to save his family from starvation. Dom’s insistent, brooding guitar punctuations complement his singing to convey his plight in one of the most memorable accounts of this song I’ve yet come across.
The pace then picks up for a brace of classic miners’ songs from the north-east: South Medomsley Strike and Oakey Strike Evictions, both from the pen of Pitmen’s Poet Tommy Armstrong. In Dom’s hands, their ironically jaunty catchy choruses and almost playful lightness of touch and expression mask the bitter humour of the caustic lyrics that describe the hardships of the workers and their families and condemn the actions of colliery managers and their hired bailiffs. On these tracks, Dom and his guitar are rocked up with rollicking backings variously involving Phil Beer on fiddle, Tom Evans on accordion, Dom’s brother Richard on drums and backing vocals from Phil and Odette Michell.
After this, Dom embraces a gentler mode of expression for the first of the disc’s three self-penned songs, The Shoemender, a melancholy and poignant, almost elegiac meditation on the erosion of the beauty of the town high-street by the encroachment of the faceless franchises. The strength and power of the song’s sentiment are beautifully pointed by the gorgeous cello playing of Joely Koos. Joely also plays on the ensuing instrumental (the aforementioned Shoemaker’s Tune) and in the lovingly configured interwoven string quartet arrangement (involving Rowan Piggott on violins and viola) for the album’s penultimate track, Come All You Fine Young People, which touchingly celebrates the importance of community and singing as a communal activity and its increased role in these times of pandemic. This song also includes vocal harmonies from Rowan and Rosie and a simple repeated rippling guitar motif.
Its theme of heartwarming identity and inclusivity extends into the album’s parting shot and title track, Dom’s final composition here. Needle And Thread is a benediction that serves to reassure the listener that we are all “in the same boat” (so to speak), for while we can all “feel overwhelmed in the face of broad, complicated societal problems” and we “don’t have the resources or the energy to fight any harder”, we can derive a degree of comfort from the process of cultivating the sanctuary of one’s own mind and share this positive experience, for in truth “you don’t have to do it alone”. Dom does so here, though, and supremely effectively, with just his voice and deft guitar accompaniment, but the needle and thread both fixes and binds.
The CD’s presentation is extremely appropriate too. Elly Lucas’ stylish portrait photography ably mirrors both Dom’s unassuming personality and the rugged confidence of the music within, while Bryin Teeny-Blackburn Lindoe’s attractive complementary artwork and design perfectly accord with the air of craftsmanship that characterises this product.
There can be no doubt that with this sophomore album, Dom Prag has propelled himself straight from the “definitely one to watch” category straight to the top rank of distinctive, individual folk performers.
Dom is on tour now; you can find more details on his website here: https://www.domprag.com/