Outside Time continues Tarren’s journey, rebuilding a folk tradition from the stones available.
Release Date: 7th September 2024
Label: Self-Released
Format: CD / vinyl / digital
There suddenly seem to be a whole lot of newish to new trios on the scene, mining the roots of an especially English tradition, what with The Wilderness Yet, The Shackleton Trio and Windjammer. Just as vibrant are Tarren, a threesome from Bristol, treading the boards since 2021/2, with their debut recording, Revel, released during that time. Described as a folk mini-supergroup, courtesy the pedigree of the players concerned, they bring together vocal and instrumental prowess, mining the old and finding some new.
Sid Goldsmith, whose very name shouts leathern britches and calico coats, handles most of the vocals, as well as cittern and concertina, with Alex Garden, on fiddle, viola and harmonium, and Danny Pedler, responsible for accordion, each also providing further vocals. The threesome provide a chewy and substantive hedge of sound. A quote from Jean-Michel Basquiat sums up their spirit: “Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”
The first track is a lively tune, from Pedler, Claudia’s, accordion and concertina jostling with each other, as the fiddle gradually stakes a claim for a pole position. It’s good, and gives promise for the whole, the three instruments making together a rich broth of melody and counter melody. This leads into Neither Maid Nor Man, an amalgam of three different “handsome sailor/soldier” songs, with an extra verse tacked on from from the band, tying all three up into the otherwise unstated non-binary gender non-conformity. Now, that may all sound very woke and modern, but doesn’t actually detract one bit from the joy of it, which is enjoyable on any level chosen. Goldsmith has an attractive unctuous quality about his voice, sitting well in the bed of instrumentation.
Outside Time, the title track, is two paired tunes, Tiennet, by Patrick Bouffard and Outside Time itself, penned by Garden. Bouffard is a French hurdy gurdy maestro, felt by many to be the best exponent of the instrument. The tune, as played here, is all syncopating poly-rhythms, with the cittern adding touches that hark back to Brubeck’s Take Five, before the more trad sounding second component, it then becoming a dance fit for a bal. Sunk is a song about home, a wistful keening paean to returning there. Harmonies make for a chorus to nod, and sing, along with. The harmonium gives a warm background of reassurance. Two further paired tunes follow, one each by Pedler and Goldsmith, Solstice and We Go Again, the first mentioned all chimes and plucks as it opens, demarking the passage of time. Concertina ekes out a melody, ahead the fiddle taking a lead in another complex mix of metres. Cittern romps away for the conclusion, before it becomes a unison of sorts. This sort of play is reminiscent of the late lamented Spiro.
Good old trad. arr. is behind Jolly Bold Robber, but it is fair to say the Gypsy jazz prologue is a neat twist on earlier versions. The delivery of the verses is orthodox enough, but the arrangement remains novel enough to maintain interest, particularly the harmonium, which adds a spectral atmosphere. The cittern skitters and pizzicato fiddle fizzes, the latter awaiting gaps, for then Garden to soar with swooping bowstrokes. Dan-Y-Bont switches gears and styles completely, ushered in by guest, Harriet Riley, on positively pneumatic marimba, her bounce of notes a constant joy, adding some totally unexpected extra textures and added value. Concertina sidles in, followed by accordion and harmonium. Utterly captivating, and that’s even before some sly fiddle gilds this lily still the further.
Super 8 consists or two Garden compositions. Described as being written in a treehouse in the Scottish Highlands, by the light of an old lamp, that is something I am sure we can all subscribe to. Fiddle led, neither allow the attention to be hogged thereby, the paired squeezebox each churning away merrily. Pedler was/is a morris man, hooray, and it is a morris tune up next, if with an Andy Cutting arrangement. He describes this jig as “lumpy”, an adjective hitherto unassociated with the Cotswold traditions, bar possibly, I guess, via plum pudding, but is undeniably apt, what with the sometime pressure on notes, as they squeeze ungainly into the time allotted them. The switch of lead from accordion to concertina, thereby dropping a register, is gorgeous.
Back then to vocals, with Goldsmith now turning his tongue to Spencer The Rover, a song well known and thus ripe for comparison. Goldsmith’s fruity tones are here amped up to his maximum rustic, which may prove to too much for any unaccustomed ear; true to received folk club expectation, but possibly needing attention for any crossover audience. (Then again, since when has that mattered to all those singer-songwriters who speak English and sing American. At least Goldsmith crosses no ocean.) It is a good version, mind, their own arrangement, it resplendent with flickers of bright colour. Goldsmith also wrote the closer, Wanting For That, a delicate mix soothing cittern and pastoral sounding fiddle, muted box squeezing at the edge. It gives time to catch thoughts about the whole recording, and thus provides a good assessment of the individual gifts of the talented trio who make up Tarren.
Here’s Neither Man Nor Maid, live from Cecil Sharp House, it being worth noting that a bursary from Cecil Sharp House and the EFDSS (English Folk Dance & Song Society), around exploring gender diversity in traditional song, part enabled the making of this project.
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