CHRISTINE TOBIN - Pelt
Trail Belle Records TBR04
Christine Tobin (voice); Phil Robson (guitars); Liam Noble (piano, prepared piano & rhodes); Gareth Lochrane (flutes); Richard Jones (violin); Kate Short (cello); Dave Whitfield (double & electric bass); Lorraine Baker, Simon Lea, Steve Arguelles (drums); Thebe Lipere (percussion)
Recorded February 2014 & March 2015
Each new release from Christine Tobin is now something of an event, and an eagerly awaited one at that. With her last couple of albums featuring the words of others set to Tobin's music, (Sailing To Byzantium featuring the words of W.B.Yeats, and A Thousand Kisses Deep taking the music and words of Leonard Cohen) she has revealed that rare gift of being able to successfully translate the verses of the writers to her own unique musical vision and in the process developed as a highly accomplished arranger. As is her wont, nothing is ever quite as it seems, but the music unfolds in a manner that is completely logical yet full of surprises.
For Pelt, she takes as her inspiration the poems of Paul Muldoon, whose work she has used previously and reprises with the inclusion of a sampled 'Horses' from her Romance & Revolution album (which sends one racing back to the original recording), and sets them to music that is far reeaching and far ranging. From the use of rock rhythms and riffs, along with some electrifying guitar work from Phil Robson on 'Zoological Positivism Blues' and 'San Simeon' to the driving pulse of 'Big Idea' Tobin places her individual voice at the centre of each. Her arranger's flourishes continue with the pared down 'Wind & Tree' with pianist Liam Noble to the inspired use of Gareth Lochrane's flutes on 'After Me' and the title track.
The diverse nature of the music presented never seems to be forced, but instead hangs together as cohesively as the subject matter covered by Muldoon's writing, and the writing for violin and cello is again a wonderful touch and a development of her arranging for strings heard on Byzantium.
Christine's many followers will snap this up immediately, and if new to the work of this hugely gifted singer Pelt is an ideal place to begin an acquaintance.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
Trail Belle Records TBR04
Christine Tobin (voice); Phil Robson (guitars); Liam Noble (piano, prepared piano & rhodes); Gareth Lochrane (flutes); Richard Jones (violin); Kate Short (cello); Dave Whitfield (double & electric bass); Lorraine Baker, Simon Lea, Steve Arguelles (drums); Thebe Lipere (percussion)
Recorded February 2014 & March 2015
Each new release from Christine Tobin is now something of an event, and an eagerly awaited one at that. With her last couple of albums featuring the words of others set to Tobin's music, (Sailing To Byzantium featuring the words of W.B.Yeats, and A Thousand Kisses Deep taking the music and words of Leonard Cohen) she has revealed that rare gift of being able to successfully translate the verses of the writers to her own unique musical vision and in the process developed as a highly accomplished arranger. As is her wont, nothing is ever quite as it seems, but the music unfolds in a manner that is completely logical yet full of surprises.
For Pelt, she takes as her inspiration the poems of Paul Muldoon, whose work she has used previously and reprises with the inclusion of a sampled 'Horses' from her Romance & Revolution album (which sends one racing back to the original recording), and sets them to music that is far reeaching and far ranging. From the use of rock rhythms and riffs, along with some electrifying guitar work from Phil Robson on 'Zoological Positivism Blues' and 'San Simeon' to the driving pulse of 'Big Idea' Tobin places her individual voice at the centre of each. Her arranger's flourishes continue with the pared down 'Wind & Tree' with pianist Liam Noble to the inspired use of Gareth Lochrane's flutes on 'After Me' and the title track.
The diverse nature of the music presented never seems to be forced, but instead hangs together as cohesively as the subject matter covered by Muldoon's writing, and the writing for violin and cello is again a wonderful touch and a development of her arranging for strings heard on Byzantium.
Christine's many followers will snap this up immediately, and if new to the work of this hugely gifted singer Pelt is an ideal place to begin an acquaintance.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
