| Claire Mann, Aaron Jones & Tom McConville: Edinburgh Folk Club ***** |
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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. |