Granny’s Attic – Wheels Of The World: Album Review

By Mike Ainscoe on 3rd September 2019 • ( 2 Comments )

Release Date: 6^th September 2019

Label: Grimdon Records

Formats: CD, DL

Three hotshot young folk musicians (ten years of playing together before reaching their mid-twenties) and a seasoned hand as their guiding light. Sounds promising.

Their third album too, so Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, George Sansome and Lewis Wood haven’t been sitting on their jacks. Aside from graduating with music degrees from their universities, they’ve been combining to turn out music with the sort of core Englishness that the likes of the vastly more experienced Faustus and their peers have worked with. They all sing and show a command of the guitar, fiddle, melodeon and concertina without being showy or indulgent. If you’re looking for concertina fireworks, award-winning Talisk/Imar’s Mohsen Amini has to be your man.

Interpretations of traditional material (plus a couple of Wood compositions) are all harnessed by the expert hands of Sean Lakeman, tasked with the job of trapping the spark that exists when the three join forces yet which so often goes AWOL in the studio. Suffice to say, it’s a good match. The interplay is striking and with the “great tunes, great energy, great arrangements” accolade from none other than that Jon Boden, who are we to try to top that?

They do the jaunty particularly well; the title track and The Highwayman both roll along at a handsome pace, the latter paired nicely with Gilderoy, both celebrating the folk song fascination with the roguish lifestyle of the roving blade. However, the top track may well be the wonderfully titled What I Saw In My Dream As I Slept In My Chair that bemoans issues of 19^th Century that may well be as relevant today.

Elsewhere, the cover looks familiar – is that one of those former factories that’s now a thriving antiques centre (Botany Bay off the M61 anyone?) or some building that you see regularly as Scott & Bailey race around Oldham catching villains.

I’d like to say Wheels Of The World sounds like this trio have been singing together for years, but the fact that they actually have been shows. With some gigs imminent I may have to hop across to Folk at the Grove where Jed Maxwell’s brother lives (Leeds for the non-Partridge fans) on October 11^th. Meanwhile, as Sean, David and Michael might be getting a bit old for the name, these three might be the new Young’uns. Frightening!

Watch the video of the trio playing the title track (out in the woods – as you do) here: