This is the fifth album for Penguin Cafe in their second incarnation under Arthur Jeffes. As its title perhaps implies, Rain Before Seven… is looking to reassert the band’s Englishness, while simultaneously looking to recapture the slightly whimsical and humourous approach Arthur’s dad Simon made so natural in the group’s first period. There is also a concerted effort to use more of Jeffes’ considerable percussion arsenal, drawing on objects from around the globe to give the music a cosmopolitan edge.
What’sthemusiclike?
Arthur wholeheartedly succeeds in his aims, for Rain Before Seven…is a fine piece of work and one that will frequently make its listener smile.
There is a wide-eyed innocence to the strings that come into Galahad, while Re Budd relocates to the Caribbean with an accurate evocation of steelpans. Goldfinch Yodel takes on the air of a country dance, while the more serious Might Be Something becomes a heartfelt reflection.
Does it all work?
Yes. Richly scored and packed with melodic content, this is an album with a great deal for the listener to enjoy.
Is it recommended?
It is – and while the other four albums under Arthur Jeffes have been successful, this goes the extra mile for colour and flair. The best modern Penguin Cafe album yet.
Rone has always been an artist keen to try new things, but even he baulked slightly at the prospect of working with an orchestra. This was in part due to an inferiority complex that he felt, ‘in relation to scholarly music’.
Helping him bridge the perceived divide was arranger Romain Allender, a fan of Rone’s music and a skilled accomplice with composer Alexandre Desplat. The two started working together in 2017, a partnership that culminated with this project enlisting the Orchestre national de Lyon and conductor Dirk Brossé
On it they reimagine carefully chosen parts of Rone’s electronic discography for orchestra, discovering the transition between the two to be surprisingly seamless.
What’sthemusiclike?
Full of drama. This is a really impressive project, one that retains the immediate thrill of Rone’s music but does a great job in bringing out its previously unheard orchestral elements.
The arrangements are imaginative, using the orchestra to their full potential, in a way that brings out all the melodies but also generates impressive momentum.
New track Ghosts is very atmospheric, a piece of big screen imagination brought to life, while (OO) gains really impressive power, its orchestral concept fully realised. Room With A View goes a step further, incisive strings driving forward to thrilling effect before a piano comes through to lead the melody. Chaos reigns towards the end as all the forces gather.
Does it all work?
It does. A consistently imaginative partnership that reaps rewards and presents a new side to Rone’s music. No tired re-hashes here!
After a number of years away from music, Arthur Oskan is getting his hands warm again. This is the second EP to mark his return, a duo of extended tracks that mark something of a change in direction.
Under the restrictions of the pandemic, Oskan took a deep dive into modular synthesis, putting together a carefully constructed sound reflecting his response to isolation.
What’sthemusiclike?
This is music that takes the listener somewhere else. The first track, Adult Themes, has a hypnotic figure that starts at a measured pace and timbre. Gradually the tones sharpen and the energy heightens, a controlled piece of moody instrumental music that proves highly effective in setting the scene. Balancing this is the reflective Maybe Tomorrow, its softly pulsing undercarriage supporting the brighter tones above, which become lighter and float away like wisps of cloud.
Both pieces are instrumentals without drums, but the cross-rhythmic currents create plenty of interest.
Does it all work?
It does. Oskan has made two subtle pieces of ambient music here that calm the head but also provide it with positive energy.
Is it recommended?
It is – with hopefully more to come in this vein of writing from Oskan.
Portland singer-songwriter Matthew Ward is not yet 50, yet he has already racked up 12 solo albums in a prolific musical career. These are alongside his work as part of She & Him (with Zooey Deschanel), not to mention his Monsters Of Folk project.
The spirit of collaboration is prominent here too, for Supernatural Thing includes two tracks made with Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit, and a track each with Scott McMicken, Neko Case and Gabriel Kahane, Jim James and Kelly Pratt, and last but not least Shovels and Rope).
The album title is inspired by a childhood thought that radio airwaves are also used by messages from the supernatural – with music caught up in the crossfire. Ultimately the radio element is the crucial factor, celebrated here.
What’sthemusiclike?
Winsome. Ward puts his listener at ease right from the amiable guitar strumming of Lifeline, the mood enhanced by his sotto voce delivery.
That’s not to say there is a lack of emotion here, however, and in the collaborations especially he finds poignant lyrical couplets and yearning harmonies. The husk of his tone fuses rather beautifully with First Aid Kit’s sharper insights, and in Too Young To Die they have made a song to stop the listener in their tracks. The more upbeat Engine 5 taps into the album’s theme, entreating the listener to “stay with me on the radio”.
Jim James and Kelly Pratt join for a late Bowie cover, I Can’t Give Everything Away taken from the Blackstar album, and fashioned with an appropriately doleful saxophone solo. Meanwhile Scott McMicken joins for a breezy, upbeat New Kerrang. Dedication Hour, with Neko Case and Gabriel Kahane, is enjoyably woozy.
It’s easy to sing along with or harmonise the solo songs, too, with the title track a prime example. Story Of An Artist, with which the album closes, is a reflective, softly voiced crooner.
Does it all work?
It does – the album hangs together really well, and its changing perspectives give it the feel of a radio program, which was almost certainly the intention.
Is it recommended?
It is. M. Ward’s output is remarkably consistent, and this is a strong addition to the discography. A breezy summer album, too!
Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Photos (c) Benjamin Ealovega
This week we have been marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Byrd, one of the founding fathers of English classical music as we know it today.
One of the key events on Tuesday, the day itself, was a trio of concerts at the Wigmore Hall from the Cardinall’s Musick choir and their conductor Andrew Carwood. Together they have recorded all of Byrd’s choral music for the Gaudeamus and Hyperion labels, but on this occasion the focus was the composer’s three Mass settings.
Context for these unique works is vital, and it was given by an extremely helpful and thorough note from Katherine Butler, bolstered by musical insight, and also from Carwood himself in well-chosen asides to the audience. Both illustrated vividly how perilous Byrd’s own position as a composer was, for as a Catholic he was compelled to write settings of the mass, despite knowing public airings of the music would be against the demands of his monarch, Elizabeth I, for whom he was royal composer. If discovered, these performances could bring about imprisonment and even death. Because of this, the works lay undiscovered in their largely anonymous packaging, used for very private occasions presided over by a priest who would even have his own bolthole, should the ceremony be discovered.
Byrd Mass for 4 voices (c1592-3), with the Propers for the Feast of Easter Day
The Cardinall’s Musick [Patrick Craig, Matthew Venner (altos), William Balkwill, Mark Dobell (tenors), Richard Bannan, Robert Rice (baritones), Edward Grint, Nathan Harrison (basses)] / Andrew Carwood
The three Cardinall’s Musick concerts began with a lunchtime account of the Mass for Four Voices, dating from around 1592-3, and given context by in performance by Byrd’s settings of the Propers for Easter, completed in 1607. These began with a celebratory Introit, with its busy acclamation of the resurrection, with the mood changing for a solemn, weighty Kyrie from the Mass. This was given plenty of room by Carwood, with superb control from the singers in their sustaining of the notes. A fulsome Gloria followed, notable for its clarity of line and rhythm. Carwood was judicious in harnessing the ten voices available to him, reducing the forces to five for the Gradual & Alleluia. Here, the portrayal of ‘Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando’ (death and life have fought a huge battle)’ was vividly conveyed, before ‘et gloriam vidi resurgentis’ (‘and I saw the glory of the rising’) reached impressive heights.
The substantial Credo was paced just right, with a holding back from the ‘descendit’, with controlled lower notes to complement. A busy Offertory and graceful Sanctus were beautifully sung, the music gradually unfolding. The Communion (Pascha nostrum) was slow, appropriately reverent and pure, before the moving Agnus Dei had as its end a final chant and response telling us the Mass had finished.
Byrd Mass for 3 voices (c1593-4), with the Propers for the Feast of Corpus Christi
The Cardinall’s Musick [Julie Cooper, Laura Oldfield (sopranos), Patrick Craig, Matthew Venner (altos), William Balkwill, Mark Dobell (tenors), Nathan Harrison (bass)] / Andrew Carwood
As Andrew Carwood explained, we heard some of the richest music in the first concert, then some of the most intimate in the second. This was music of the recusant house rather than the big church or cathedral, and Carwood invited us to imagine we were in a building no bigger than a sitting room. With Catholics shrouded in secrecy, he gave an idea of just how risky this music making was.
We heard the Mass For Three Voices, with a noticeable reduction in texture from the lunchtime concert, as well as less movement within the parts. That said, there was an air of restrained celebration all the same. A quick Kyrie & more florid Gloria was sung with two to a part, and while the single parts could be left exposed they were very secure in these hands, notably the tricky entries from on high. The Propers on this occasion were for the feast of Corpus Christi and were published in 1605. They featured a ‘risky’ Gradual, before a six-piece Credo found a lovely peak on the words ‘Et ascendit in caelum (and ascended into heaven)’ and a beautiful confluence at the end. There was a suitably thoughtful start to the Sanctus, which became more florid in its ‘Hosanna’ exultations. The Communion was outwardly expressive, retreating to a sombre Agnus Dei and a solemn final chant.
Byrd Mass for 5 voices (c1594-5), with the Propers for the Feast of All Saints
The Cardinall’s Musick [Julie Cooper, Laura Oldfield (sopranos), Patrick Craig, Matthew Venner (altos), Ben Alden, William Balkwill, Mark Dobell (tenors), Edward Grint, Robert Rice (bass)] / Andrew Carwood
Finally the evening concert gave the Mass for Five voices with the Propers for the Feast of All Saints of 1605 – an effervescent celebration but becoming more meditative as the music proceeded. Carwood, revelling in the occasion, conducted with great sensitivity once again, presiding over a busy Introit with the rejoicing angels. The layered Kyrie of the Mass itself was ideally weighted, making the most of the chromatic possibilities, before a relatively restrained Gloria. The five voices, with increasingly complex writing, were nonetheless easy to follow, their rhythmic lightness suggesting a dance at the end of the Gradual – Carwood referring to the repartee between the voices.
He then referenced the intensity of Byrd’s writing, the declamation in the Credo and its extraordinary harmony, fusing of madrigal techniques into the mass. It was helpful to have these insights on top of the booklet notes, for Carwood setting Byrd apart as a composer even from the likes of Palestrina. The full ten-voice Credo explored deeply felt power and resonance, an incredibly expressive movement, while the purity of the sopranos shone through in the Offertory. A slow Sanctus gradually gathered pace with more complex writing, before the Communion – making explicit reference to the persecution Byrd felt, gave an appropriate stress to the words ‘propter iustitiam (for righteousness’ sake)’ and showed some well-handled dissonances. Finally an Agnus Dei of solemn, minor key angst found peace at last, capped by the closing sentence.
The choir and their conductor received a deservedly rapturous reception, for their beautiful and controlled singing had given Byrd the best possible remembrance, marking the death of this musical martyr in appropriate style. The Cardinall’s Musick and the Wigmore Hall should be applauded for such a well-conceived and executed trio of concerts, which are highly recommended for online viewing!
You can listen to the Cardinall’s Musick recordings of the Byrd Masses, dating from 2000, on the Spotify link below:
Arcana.fm 