Sparkly effervescent instrumental expertise. With added vocals. (And mouth trumpet).
Release date: 15th March 2024
Label: Self-Released
Format: CD / digital
Sometimes this gig can be quite a plough, as recordings of worth vie with recordings of consequence, requiring concentration and effort to even listen to. So when a disc like this pops into the pile, by golly, is it a welcome fresh breath or what? A: it is, and kudos, again, to Anna Massie, for providing it. Massie I mentioned a week or four back, in combination with her part in RANT, the estimable fiddle quartet and their lively new platter. Here she is on her tod, and had me smiling from the outset.
Massie can sing, can play guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin, and does all of these well. We knew the first two from her work with Blazin’ Fiddles, amongst innumerable other recordings, and from the aforementioned RANT. She is also a dab on the mouth trumpet, which makes several appearances. (Mouth trumpet? Well, sort of a variation around the “just put your lips together and blow”, which she also can do pretty well). Amongst the things she can’t do, as we learn here, is to grow a beard or light a fire, of which more later. I hadn’t heard her sing before, but it is a pleasing and light instrument, not unakin to her speaking tones, known so well to any listeners of her Radio Scotland Travelling Folk programme, or to those who catch the delightful social media for said show.
It is with song she starts, an uplifting ditty around the pleasure of pen and ink, postage stamps and postcards, all now near a thing of the past, but something she requested in her lock-down role, the blogger, Black Isle Correspondent. All very Simpson-esque, Martin, in the guitar and melody, it is a great starter, and is a song of her own. Dinner Medals is then a lively mandolin led piece, reminding me of RT’s Strict Tempo album. (Two songs in and I’m comparing her to two of our finest guitarists! And it isn’t hyperbole.) Fiddle joins in, by the wonder of overdub, and then it gets even better, finishing off with some effervescent scatting of the baba baba variety. I can’t see either my comparators stooping to that aspect, but, y’know, it’s fun and it’s legal, so full marks, there. The entertaining sleeve notes explain the tune, actually without explaining why, but do educate me as to the meaning of splootering, and the thus gained “dinner medals”, something Ms. Massie pertains to be proficient in. (Look it up; not to be confused with sploot).
A second song, is self-deprecation central, and comes from J.P. Cormier, a Cape Breton country singing Franco-Celt. Called My Life Is Over Again, it offers a witty flip to the tropes of Nashville songwriting. It is delightful, Massie’s delivery perfect. It must be the happiest sad song ever. It also ushers in the first of the warned mouth trumpet solos. Cast any prejudices aside, it’s great, especially as she adds some whistling. A guitar instrumental, The Coronation Hornpipe, which it is, follows, seguing, with trilling mandolins, to 100 Days, and a switch to 5 string banjo. And more mouth trumpet. Worth The Wait is a further trio of tunes: Worth The Wait, Batty Annie and Press Pause, each of which further display her mastery of the battery of instruments available, each accelerating forward from the one preceding, this time without the mouth trumpet.
Rick Taylor is another Canadian, he responsible for Anything From You, a searing song around removing yourself from a destructive relationship, and embracing the worst, again with a buoyant vocal arrangement that belies the content. A guitar and fiddle tune, The Lovat Bar, is dedicated to those faithful attendees, recipients of her tutelage at the annual Blazin’ Fiddles music school, Blazin’ In Beauly, where the Lovat Arms Hotel (and bar) is sited. A couple of traddies for solo guitar are up next, Battle Of Waterloo and Out On The Ocean. Anyone left still wondering as to why she is one of the in-demand accompanists in Scottish music must surely have caught the drift by now.
More self-deprecation up next, with the song that reveals all the things she isn’t or cannot do, as promised above. Suffice it to say, she isn’t outdoorsie, Thomas Burke’s song, The Outdoor Type, spelling it out, and will be instantly recognisable to those of the same affliction. Mandolin tinkles embed her vocal, and you have to smile. The tradition of writing wedding tunes gets a further visit, Worth The Wait having offered an earlier example. The trio of pairs getting a mention for Kipper And Susan’s Big Day/The Aerie/The Inverary Wedding get a jolly tune apiece, Massie’s arsenal of strings each getting a good belting. And how about a song about gardening and growing veg? You got it; The Pioneer’s Waltz, a gentle dance that expounds, wordlessly, the joy of tatties and parsnips, however small. It’s a tribute to her parents, Bob and Alison, who then feature as the album’s only outside musical assistance. Bob plays mandolin and Alison spoons for Bob’s composition, Göran Berg’s Polka, their daughter keeping her profile down with some metronomically rhythmic guitar.
You’ll know the closer, even if it will take a moment for the lyric to suddenly imprint, given the picked guitar introduction. With a hint of echo in the chorus, whether your own original is Tommy James, Lene Lovich or Tiffany, I Think We’re Alone Now translates well to this spare rendition. I’d offer maybe the mouth trumpet has overstayed its welcome, a sole negative, mind. But not enough to spoil the overall exuberance of this bountiful release. If it;s 21 years since her solo debut, here’s looking forward to 2045 for a third! Or mavbe sooner?
Thanks For Writing, track one, side one, regardless of format:
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