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Review by Chris Silver
Tom McConville, Claire Mann and Aaron Jones are the perfect
folk trio, and their concert on Wednesday night was one
of the best offerings I have seen at Edinburgh Folk Club.
'All the Tunes in the World' was a slightly odd opening
song given its lilting chorus and closing time based subject
matter, but given the trio's connections with grassroots
folk music in Edinburgh and Newcastle it came across as
an apt expression of their collective musical past.
What made this group so special was the combination of three
highly distinctive talents, Claire Mann's polished musicianship,
McConville's spontaneity, and Aaron Jones's well-nigh angelic
accompaniment and arrangements.
McConville's irrepressible stage presence made the evening
highly entertaining, lending the concert a level of accessibility
and laid back candour that (in my opinion) can often be
lacking in contemporary folk performances, especially when
musical excellence is on the cards. The fiddler's belligerent
insistence on audience participation may not have added
much to the music itself, but it demonstrated the man's
remarkable ability to get an entire room involved in the
performance.
Perhaps audience participation is a key aspect to any folk
club, but I have always found that unless the song is specifically
designed for singing en masse it can often take away from
my own enjoyment of the music. Of course the folk tradition
is brilliantly communal and all the better for it, but at
points I found myself yearning for a moments silence during
the chorus of several songs in order to better appreciate
what was happening on stage. There is a danger that some
songs may end up sounding like a mumbled Presbyterian hymn
on a driech Sunday morning.
However the sheer quality and variety of songs and tunes,
combined with some razor sharp Geordie wit, made any sense
of sitting in a congregation disappear. This was apparent
from McConville's tour de force 'Patrick Pearce' to Mann
and Jones's sparkling material from their album 'Secret
Orders' such as 'Saints and Sinners' and 'Across the Western
Ocean' (both songs are available to download on this very
website).
Tom McConville has a highly distinctive style of fiddle
playing, adding vast amounts of energy to the performances.
While my knowledge of the instrument is by no means authoritative
there were moments in his playing that went straight for
the spine.
The trio will be playing throughout the country over the
next few months- providing a chance to see that often rare
combination that only folk can offer- excellent musicianship
and a feeling that as a member of the audience you are as
much a part of the music as the performers themselves.
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