The Wilderness Yet are an impressive and original trio. The line-up may seem straightforward enough – a female singer backed by acoustic fiddle and guitar and violin – but there’s nothing straightforward about their subtle, gently rhythmic but thoughtful and emotional songs or the sheer quality of their playing and singing. Their new album shows them to be a band steeped in both the English and Irish folk traditions, but with a fresh, confident edge and a clear idea of what they want to achieve.
Rosie Hodgson, who takes the lead on most songs, is a BBC Young Folk Award finalist with a cool, unforced voice and the ability to switch from quiet intensity to no-nonsense story-telling. She is backed by her partner Rowan Piggott, another strong singer and impressive fiddle player (he’s the son of Charlie Piggott, one of the founders of that great Irish band De Danaan), and by Philippe Barnes, who studied Irish Music Performance at the University of Limerick, and plays the flute as well as guitar. They are all great musicians, but what gives The Wilderness Yet an extra edge is their ability to add glorious a capella harmony singing to the mix.
The songs are an interesting mixture. There’s one traditional track alongside new songs by writers they admire, their own compositions, and a set of tunes. Their debut album two years ago included Queen and Country, that great praise song to bees, and the emphasis is again often on the importance of the natural world and wildlife: foxes, badgers, nightjars, barn owls, nightingales, snipe and curlew all feature. But there is also a strong sense of the personal and importance of family. There’s a love song that Rosie wrote for Rowan as a Valentine’s present, a charming lullaby waltz written for their son Wilf, and a tribute to Rowan’s great great grandfather. He was a shanachie, an Irish teller of old stories and legends, and The Last Shanachie starts with a brief recording of his voice – a fragment retrieved from an old wax cylinder.
The set starts with Wild Northeaster, in which Charles Kingsley’s poem Ode To The North East Wind is set an Irish slip jig. An unexpected praise song to the wind that will bring an end to the lazy days of summer, it was a favourite poem for Rowan when he was a child, and it’s followed by two more praise songs to animals. Old Brock (currently my favourite track, thanks to the glorious harmony vocals) is, of course, about badgers, while Charlie Fox brings a traditional jig setting to lyrics by Dave Webber and favourably compares the hunting skills of the fox to those who are chasing him. It’s followed by the album’s compelling title track, written by Rosie Hodgson. What Holds The World Together is a true story of class and ecology – of how villagers in India who could not afford to marry off their daughters because of the dowry system used to leave them in the woods at birth until one couple decided to plant trees as an investment for their new-born daughter, with far more positive results for the community.
There’s another positive ecology story on The Carol of the Flood, which explains how reservoirs and waterways in the Lakeland area of Sheffield (where the trio are based) have helped local wildlife. Rowan sings on this one, with Philippe adding flute and Joe Danks playing bodhran. Elsewhere, there’s more fine and emotional a capella singing on the traditional The Banks Of The Bann, and on the final Emigrantvisa, Rowan’s pained and sturdy translation of a Swedish song of parting.
This is surely one of the folk albums of the year.
What Holds The World Together is out now on Scribe Records.
Bandcamp (Digital) | For CD, Songbook and more, visit: https://www.thewildernessyet.com/shop.html
Upcoming Dates
15th October – Manchester Folk Festival
21st October – Folk At The Barlow
30th November – SoundBox
11th December – Poppy Folk Club
13th December – St Neots Folk Club
Album Artwork by Adam Oehlers