Delightful melodies to the fore with Welsh harpist Catrin Finch’s first solo record in a decade
LONG OVERDUE
It has been over a decade since leading Welsh harpist Catrin Finch last released an album of her solo work. Notes To Self is long overdue, but well worth the wait.
With an instrumental record, particularly one which is performed on a single acoustic instrument, it is not always easy to devine the subject matter simply by listening. Tunes can conjure up atmospheres, but rarely specifics. An album such as this can therefore be heard in two ways: as set of songs appreciated musically in their own right, or as a suite of music with a very specific inspiration.
CRACKING SET OF TUNES
Looked at purely musically, this is a cracking set of tunes. Melodies float on top of repeating patterns and rhythms, building slowly until they embed in your brain. I did not expect to find myself humming themes from solo harp music as I went about my day, but after only a couple of listens that’s what these tunes managed.
The two singles, 13 and Kin, are particularly strong, but almost all the tracks take a hypnotically repetitive rhythm picked out on the strings. Add a bass line and then the melody on top, sweeping round in a loop, inviting you to lose yourself in the patterns. How one person can play all those notes simultaneously is beyond me.
An exception to the instantly accessible tunes is Black Holes, a soundscape of anxiety built up from unconventional sounds nonetheless created on the harp.
ELEGANT AND INVOLVING
The album is conceived a set of letters to Finch’s 13-year-old self. A fairly common musical conceit but she has a lot to say to the younger Catrin – or Katy as she called herself then. I particularly liked the hope she expressed that one day an older Catrin might write back to her 45-year-old self with a similar set of advice and reassurances. We could all do with that sometimes!
Finch refers to these as songs, even though there no words, and the main melodies frequently trace a tune which is voice-like in structure. Several, such as the elegant and involving album closer Angels, do make you curious about how some of these tracks might work in collaboration with a singer to actualise the inspiration.
ABSORBING AND MELODIC
Notes To Self is a collection of great, heartfelt tunes which belie any preconceptions you might have of what a record of Welsh solo harp might sound like. Absorbing and melodic, for the most part uplifting and bold. Catrin Finch’s 13-year-old self should be proud of the music she will grow up to make.
Finch is touring the album in Wales and England in February and March – check her website for details.
Catrin Finch: Website