Flook fly back in a flurry of flirtatious flutery.

Release Date : 21st March 2025

Label: Flatfish Records

Format : CD / vinyl / digital

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Flook are now thirty, however hard that may be to believe. But it is true, with any casual scan of the shelves revealing at least three of their albums came out last century. Sure, it seems a while since Ancora, their last, in 2019, but there have been, um, things happening in the wider world since then. You may have noticed. Irrespective of that, it is a joy to have them back, their exhilarating rush of twin flutes, guitar and bodhran still an unstoppable feast of pan-Celtic fumes, with a dash of Anglo for good measure.

Ignoring the fact the band called it a day back in 2008, they bounced back in 2013, and are still the core four that has held steady since: Sarah Allen, Brian Finnegan, Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly. As with previous albums, there is the odd guest, this one containing, amongst others, and notably, Patsy Reid, on fiddles, John Calvert on various basses and Stevie J.Jones on keyboards. Produced by the last two mentioned, and recorded over three days, it’s a rare oul combination.

A GREAT START

The album begins with two paired tunes, The Farther Shore, a co-write between accordionist extraordinaire, Phil Cunningham, with Allen, one of the two flautists. This is paired with Winter Flower, from Finnegan, who is the other. Starting with Boyds picked guitar, Finnegan and Allen’s instruments sing in harmony. Here Finnegan is actually playing whistle, rather than his wooden flute, with Allen on her customary alto flute. Despite Cunningham’s part in the composition, it is an essentially English melody, almost redolent of Vaughan-Williams. Bridged by more of Boyd’s guitar, as it launches into the second tune, now it is twin flutes, giving out a sense of greater urgency in their trills. With piano building around the gaps and Kelly’s now insistent patter, it makes for a great start.

DUCKING AND DIVING

Jig For Sham is next, the first of four connected pieces. And it certainly is a jig, launched by some effervescent bodhran, with the two flutes ducking and diving around each other, ahead finding some common ground. The bass, which had been the delicate thwungs of a bass ukelele in the track before, is now more potent, clearly an electric bass, from Calvert, with Jones adding some bass from his synth. As it breaks into The Dawn Wall, so too Reid makes her entry, with a flourish of fiddle, her tones a deep and rich contrast to the wind instruments, and the basement seismic rumble.

Lurching into Johnny D’s, Boyd then parades a swaggering strum to lead off into a further groove and direction, before Timewaver dials down the mood and velocity, with a spiky backbeat, before a final ensemble flourish. Bar Liz Carroll’s Johnny D’s, all here are written by Finnegan.

FINNEGAN ON A ROLL

With Finnegan on a roll, it is a further pair of his, Koady and The Burning Lion that follow. At a slow lick, here there is a greater emphasis on the whole combination. Shakers shake and pianos tinkle, leading into a mid-section where the flutes offer an ambience that wouldn’t be unwelcome to any flute proggers of fifty years back, possibly even the mighty Tull. That’s Koady, the mood now into a fizz of rolling bodhran that beats a signature into the remaining minutes. From heads nodding in appreciation, the feet are now surely tapping.

A SKITTERING CELEBRATORY VIBE

Tie The Knot in Georgia must be one of the stranger titles, of the, often, commemorative tunes here, with the Georgian feel of this reflective number heightened by the lyrical piano of Konstantin Tumanov, himself, I guess, from the country. It is both reflective and roundabout in nature, as the Balkan style melody is propelled along by Boyd and Kelly. Rather than blending, it near breaks off before Ed’s Five-O leaps out with a nimble rhythm anew. Becoming Faqqa at some stage, these paired tunes are a riot of syncopating flutes and clattering percussions. Of all things, it is Stevie Wonder’s Superstition that is called to mind, given the skittering celebratory vibe. Some soggy synth bass is the perfect underpinning as it hits a peaking crescendo. Marvellous stuff, all again from Finnegan.

Three selections from Allen complete Sanju. She is the Anglo to Finnegan’s Irish, and Where There Is Light possesses the same pastoral feel as within the opening track. Reid is back for this, her viola adding a lustrous harmony and texture, alongside Allen’s flute. As Finnegan adds his own, it is the most peaceful moment on this disc. Floating gently forward into The May Waterway, Jones now attaches all manner of synthesiser scaffolding, abetted by the structure offered by Kelly’s goatskin and the combination of bass instruments. Some plucked guitar and pizzicato fiddle usher in Finnegan’s return to whistle, for 90 Years Young, the whole now gamboling away to a pleasing conclusion.

WORTH THE WAIT

If Flook have taken a while to remind us and regale us with their presence, given the quality displayed here, it has been well worth the wait. Maybe not so long, next time?

With no new videos, here is a reminder of Flook live, from Wickham Festival, 2018:

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