You are hereAlbum Review: O'Hooley and Tidow - Silent June (No Masters)
Album Review: O'Hooley and Tidow - Silent June (No Masters)
I think I know Belinda O'Hooley reasonably well, if not quite so much personally, then certainly through her songs. Yes I've bumped into her in clubs and at festivals over the past few years, where we've chatted together half a dozen times and shared a joke or two. We've played at the same birthday parties, sat in the same audiences, propped up the same bars; I've even had a pint with her wonderfully charming dad. Over the years I've always enjoyed her songs and her stage manner. There's also been the odd occasion where I've found her particularly nervous before entering the snake pit at festivals, only to catch up with her later to find that everything went superbly well, no worries there. Going on before Show of Hands at the Shepley Spring Festival last year and then again appearing just before Billy Bragg at the Beverley Folk Festival, Belinda and Heidi faced big audiences bravely prior to the release of this their first album together and at the same time have showed remarkable flair in both their stage manner and in their performances alike.
This isn't easy music by any means and on stage I would have thought it particularly demanding. Although this first full length album comes after a year of feeling their way through the cluttered landscape that is the folk world and seeking out new audiences as a duo, the partnership of Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow goes back probably further than you might think. In 2006 they could both be seen playing gigs as part of the Belinda O'Hooley Band together with two male musicians, Josh and Isaac if memory serves, whilst Belinda's main musical priority back then, was as one quarter of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, whose contribution to the band's first couple of albums cannot be disputed.
On this, the duo's first album (as a duo), not only do we see a handful of welcomed additions to Belinda's canon of songs, half of which were co-written by Heidi, but also evidence of further developments as a first rate arranger. Enjoying a songwriting and performing partnership as well as a close life partnership, the pair speak enthusiastically about the niche they seen to have carved out for themselves. "Overall it's absolutely brilliant" says Heidi, "because when Belinda was in the Winterset we had an awful lot of time apart and that was really difficult for us. We're not one of those couples that like spending a lot of time apart, so it works really well for us. It's lovely to just enjoy the atmosphere of going on the road together, plus we work together musically really really well. We rehearse a lot at home together and that's the benefit of living together, that when we feel inspired we can just get up and start writing something."
That quality time at home has now manifested itself into an extraordinary album of new material, with a couple of traditional songs worked into the mix, as well as an old live favourite, the uncompromising Cold and Stiff, which the duo cheekily dedicate on the album sleeve to new label mates Chumbawamba. Co-produced by O'Hooley and Tidow with the mixing and mastering skills of that particular band's Neil Ferguson, SILENT JUNE has an impressive cast of musicians including Uiscedwr's Anna Esslemont and Cormac Byrne, fellow ex-Winterset bandmate Jackie Oates and members of Jackie's own band, James Dumbleton and James Budden, together with a fine string quartet consisting of Nia Bevan, Raymond Lester, Jayne Coyle and Damion Browne. Having invested in some 'posh recording equipment', the duo has spent some considerable time between August and November 2009, refining their sound and recording the results for the No Masters label.
With artwork and photography depicting the duo as fully paid up members of the Noël Coward Piano Incineration Society, SILENT JUNE opens with the melancholy Flight of the Petrel, a steadily building opus incorporating string quartet, Belinda's distinctively sensitive piano arrangement and two seriously aligned voices that perfectly capture this poetic observation on our relationship with nature in a troubled world.
There's an increased confidence apparent in Heidi's contribution to SILENT JUNE, which I imagine has come from a year of touring and playing some of the larger stages in the country. When I spoke to Belinda and Heidi last Summer, it was clear that Heidi was the relative newcomer to the spotlight and was happy to be under the wing of the much more experienced Belinda: "She's had to kind of really face her demons and get up there like a rabbit in the headlights initially but she's getting more confident and I think because I'm her partner as well, maybe she trusts me more."
That trust has proved fruitful and the songs co-written by the duo on the album have a marked maturity, particularly on the epic Que Sera, the song from which the album's title derives. On the page Que Sera is but a short poem inspired by the heroic war nurse Edith Cavell, but is transformed into an epic tour de force with the help of the magnificent string quartet direction of Melanie Purves.
For those who have managed to catch one of Belinda and Heidi's gigs recently, All Stand in Line will come as no surprise. With a piano motif that wouldn't be out of place on a Rick Wakeman prog-rock extravaganza, the Philip Glass inspired arrangement, featuring Anna Esslemont's violin and Cormac Byrne's inventive pulsating percussion accompaniment, the song's uncompromising lyrics remind us that Belinda still has things to say.
O'Hooley and Tidow's faithful handling of traditional material shows that although the music is very contemporary in style, they both have an allegiance to their Irish Roots. Banjololo is typical of Belinda and Heidi's shared sense of humour, a short unaccompanied children's song, which ends with a wonderfully cringe-worthy sound bite of a breaking guitar string. However many times I hear this, I can't help cringing when that string goes.
Spancil Hill on the other hand is a more solemn traditional immigration song from County Clare, beautifully arranged by Belinda, Heidi and Jackie Oates, who also provides some inimitable octave fiddle work along with James Dumbleton's intuitive guitar throughout. Taught to Belinda by the aforementioned Seamus O'Hooley, the dad I shared a pint with, Spancil Hill reveals a remarkable sensitivity and an informed understanding of traditional song.
Over the years, Belinda has become known for her dry sense of humour, her sensitive piano arrangements and her resilience to change. For those of us who have been lucky enough to see her in the relaxed setting of a backroom bar, playing the old songs or camp renditions of pop classics such as Sunny Afternoon or Money Money Money, as well as her ongoing love affair with Bonnie Tyler, there is also the ongoing selfless work Belinda carries out in care homes, where she entertains the elderly with her vast knowledge of songs from another time. Belinda speaks enthusiastically about this side to her work. "They've taught me a lot of the songs actually. They really love the romantic 1930s songs, When I Grow Too Old To Dream is one of them, I'll Be Loving You Always, Pal of My Cradle Days is also a lovely one, it's a song that a daughter would sing to her mother, 'I gave you all the wrinkles', it's all that kind of stuff, which is great. Oh they love, and I love as well, Latin American music; I love all the dance stuff, so on my Bontempi organ you know, I can press a button."
Which brings us to the heart of SILENT JUNE. Too Old To Dream, Belinda and Heidi's homage to the many Edith's of the world, those ladies (and gents) who reside in our many care homes throughout the country, living peacefully with their memories, is a beautiful performance, embracing elements of Romberg and Hammerstein II's original song as well as incorporating Irene Rourke's enchanting intro. For those new to O'Hooley and Tidow, you need look no further than this as a fine example of what makes this duo different from anything else on the scene today.
Allan Wilkinson
Northern Sky
Pictures: Casy Orr
Buy from Amazon:
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O'Hooley & Tidow Silent June No Masters Cooperative 2010-02-22 £13.99 |
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