Cuckoo Storm is a deep dive into the farthest reaches of the minds and souls of Marry Waterson and Adrian Crowley – there is little doubt that this musical marriage has been a rich and bountiful success.
They have always been a collaborative family, the Waterson’s, fitting for they are pretty much royalty in folk music circles, and ‘the people’s music’ does not shut the door to participation. Marry Waterson in particular seems to thrive on a creative cohort to inspire, indeed some of my favourite music of hers was produced alongside David A Jaycock. This one, however, has the immediacy to outshine all that has come before. ‘Cuckoo Storm’ is a record in which she has found a musical partner in Adrian Crowley, who is not only in tune with her spirit but vocally too, his matured baritone a sumptuous counterpoint to Marry’s angelic otherworldliness. At times, they almost stray into Nancy and Lee territory, minus the tongue-in-cheek goofiness admittedly, showcasing a compatibility that could expand from here. This is an album untethered by the weight of history and tradition. Cuckoo Storm is a deep dive into the farthest reaches of their minds and souls – songs are formed from scraps of old lyric ideas; melodies are attached to independently written words as if one were waiting to find the other, and the whole process does appear to have pushed each participant on to reaching hard for their best possible work.
They settled on the idea of working together following a speculative social media post sent by Crowley, who had previously admired Waterson’s music. When it became clear the project had full album potential, they both let their creative instincts run wild. The way they both pull musical brush strokes out of the bag to colour these songs is worthy of note; ‘Distant Music’ boasts a delicate piano part that lends the track an air of fragility, similarly ‘Lucky Duck For Grown Ups’ cleverly summons the water with glistening guitar shapes and patterns. Waterson was also able to bring her ‘blackout’ writing method into play, a process that involves covering words in a random page of text and weaving together something coherent out of the few words that remain. Another happy inclusion was the phrase “one foot of silver, one foot of gold” (included in the song of the same name), which Marry’s mother, Lal Waterson, had written in tribute to the poet Arthur Rimbaud, but the line had never found its way into a song.
Of the other songs, ‘Lovers In The Waves’ is most dramatic in its disregard for the predictable. There is an almost Spector-like wall-of-sound crash to the slow-punch rhythm, whilst Crowley’s vocal is nothing short of the Walker Brothers in its lush delivery. ‘Heavy Wings’ is a mood-enhancing emotive highlight, one in which Marry commands over an arrangement that brilliantly pulls in jazz references, Miles Davis’s classic movie score ‘Ascenseur pour l’echafaud’ being a touchstone that is hard to ignore. The swooping strings on ‘The Leviathan’ offer a grand and elaborate backdrop for Marry to take the solo lead on a rousing centrepiece. ‘Watching The Starlings’ sees Adrian step forward and channel his inner Tindersticks, an effect that is only exaggerated as mournful horns join the chorus.
Earlier, ‘Undear Sphere’ had set the tone in more ways than one: firstly, by introducing us to the splendid juxtaposition of the pair’s voices together and secondly by bringing an anything-goes attitude to the table as the tune closes on a hard bop-influenced saxophone flourish. That said, if the structure there reminds me of anything, it is Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’ albeit with a more sanguine element. A similar grace and poise are prevalent on the lovely ‘Kicking Up The Dust.’ By the time we close on ‘The Trembling Cup’ (with Crowley seemingly in search for the bottom end of that baritone of his), there is little doubt that this musical marriage has been a rich and bountiful success. This duo have absolutely made a virtue of their differing elements to create a very satisfying whole. Should they decide to do it again, the winners will surely be us listeners, but for now, let the ‘Cuckoo Storm’ rain down on you.
Order Cuckoo Storm: https://oli.lnk.to/cuckoo-storm