Anglo-Scots duo take their Quebecois dance party inter-species. Humans allowed.
Release Date: 16th February 2024
Label: Self-released
Format: CD / digital
It was certainly more than cows that were entertained, when this engaging duo took to the stage at Celtic Connections Danny Kyle Open Stage. Me there more for luck, that day, than intent, this daily showcase of talent always makes for a diverting couple of hours, in that late afternoon lull, ahead the evening’s big tickets. Something about one of the names rang a bell, and, as soon as Arthur Coates swept on with his fiddle, I realised he was the Arthur Coates of 2022’s Trapdoor To Hell, an engaging Quebecois style rollick that had then caught my ear. This time paired with English guitarist Kerran Cotterell, by chance he had an advance of this CD to spare. Yes please, kind sir!
For an Aberdonian barely into his 20s, Coates has packed a lot into his years, and packs a lot of punch into his fiddle, cross compassing styles and traditions with ease, happy to blur the edges and extend the horizons. Cotterell is a more than able foil, providing not only an essential metronome of rhthmic guitar play, but an adept finger picking capability to be a lead instrument himself also, when required. Handy also on bouzouki, he has a bass synth on hand for some additional textures. Each sing. Percussion? Well that comes from Coates and the art of ‘podorythmie’. Pod, foot, rythmie, well, I think you can get that; it’s the frantic scampering on a board so beloved in the French Canadian tradition, as espoused by Le Vent Du Nord.
The set kicks off (as did their brief show) with Tired Of Me, two songs, paired, in a western swing style, late Canadian fiddle maestro, Graham Townsend’s Swinging In The 80s, and the titular tune, from the catalogue of Buddy De Sylva, a contemporary of George Gershwin and was a co-founder of Capitol records. The first is a lively romp, Coates whipping his fiddle into the applicable gear, the vocal refrain light and unmannered. As Coates pauses for breath, so Cotterell dips in with some old timey scat, before the vocal again swaps. Some nifty picking intersperses swooping bow work, the vocals now a tremendous harmony evocation of times long gone, and it is a good start. JCB Reels, and yes, as in the big yellow heavy plants crossing, and are composed by Cotterell, three blistering pieces that introduce the fancy footwork, making it sound as if a full bodhran section is involved. Coates’ fiddle tone is fat and chunky, the guitar a complex timepiece. If you weren’t in the mood for making merry, now you are.
Another song, The Lazy Farmer, demonstrates that, with the right enthususiam, accomplished vocal technique is not fully essential. And also that a harmony can play to collective strengths. Not really a criticism, as the playing is really the focus, spelt out as it trips into an instrumental coda, Groove De L’Ame, by Coates, that accelerates nicely up the dirt track. Homepie De Ti-Jean is then a set of three fiddle tunes, designed to mix and match. But rather than being all to show off Coate’s technique, as much care has been given to spotlight the intricacy Cotterell can capture in his fingers. The shouting I am less keen on. This is followed by Jez Lowe’s radio ballad, Taking On Men, sung in Cotterell’s high clear tenor, which has me questioning my earlier comment, he chiming out, broad and strong, for this song, a less cynical play on Shipbuilding, perhaps, looking more at the economic advantage, however brief. And, whilst offering praise, this is a song and version I can imagine translating very well to “the Oxfordshire band”, with Coates’ fiddle and Cotterell’s voice each not a million miles from those of Chris Leslie.
La Galope De Joyeux is as jolly as it sounds. I’ll swear I can hear an accordion in there too, but it is uncredited, maybe a trick of multi-tracking. A fabulous tune, it is another by Coates. Vintage Joni follows, with 1969’s Fiddle And The Drum, a peculiarly atypical song for her. An anti-war song, critical of her adoptive country from her canon, it smacks more of trad. arr. The arrangement, credited, is that used first by A Perfect Circle, the US alt.rock/art rock ensemble. It’s good, but that version is an impossible bar to surpass. The drone of the synth is effectively chilling, a counterpoint to the sweeter vocals. Cotterell’s St Michael’s 16th lifts that mood a little, if still retaining some sombre stateliness about it, shifting gears as it moves forward. Broken, by complete contrast, presents as a trad and gaunt guitar ballad, the notes applying a sparse skeleton for Coate’s then quite cheerful rendition, with skirls of fiddle filling in the gaps between the verses. I can’t quite work out the mood intended, but it is a diverting palate cleanser, helped down by the instrumental break that jollies it off, over the horizon, a tune entitled Frères Cadets. Or Younger Brother, if my French still has legs.
Les Coe-Boys De La Mer slaps its thighs and rattles off into three segued tunes, celebrations showcasing the catalogue of Montreal musical greats, from Isidore Soucy, at this peak between the wars, current day accordion elder, Réjean Sinmard and fiddle champion, Pierre Schryer. Played straight, this demonstrates the seamless rhythmic play of Cotterell, leaving Coates to do the fancy stuff. Again, we get some superfluous yelling, but blame it on youthful exuberance. Applaud it, even. The Coope, Boyes, Simpson arrangement of Jean Ritchie’s Now Is The Cool Of The Day provides some balance, the two joining their voices, finding the applicable mix of gravitas and dread. Which leaves only space for the mournful instrumental duet, For The Ducks, written by Cotterell, which, if the expectation is for a fastfired farmyard romp, look again, as it is rathermore it is a slow and thoughful air, thoughtful in the melody allows time for your thoughts to wander and collect. Best until last? Possibly.
Here’s the boys with a spot o’ podorythmie:
Arthur Coates & Kerren Cotterell online: Website (Coates) / Facebook / Bandcamp
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