ARTiST: Chris Wood
ALBUM: Trespasser
BiTRATE: 145kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Ruf
GENRE: Folk
SiZE: 56.60 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 50min 52sec total
RiP DATE: 2008-02-27
STORE DATE: 2008-02-11
Track List:
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01. Summerfield Avenue 4:15
02. The Cottager's Reply 4:11
03. John Ball 7:29
04. England In Ribbons 13:00
05. Mad John 6:14
06. Riches On The Bold 6:10
07. The Lady Of York 4:05
08. Come Down Jehovah 5:28
Release Notes:
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Although a respected stalwart of the U.K. folk scene for three decades now, it
was only with 2005's critically-lauded The Lark Descending that Kent-born
songsmith Chris Wood rose from the supporting cast to become a leading player. A
powerful yet sensitively performed collection of traditional and self-penned
material, The Larkà established its creator as an artist with a deep connection
to the English landscape and people, harking back to a bygone age without
yearning for it mawkishly.
The Trespasser sees Wood continuing to explore similar themes, and once again
it's a quiet triumph. While the traditional songs are as expertly delivered as
ever, it's his own compositions - delivered in a tremulous voice seeping emotion
- which really stay in the memory. Opening offering, Summerfield Avenue, is
dreamily pretty, if a little slight, but the album instantly moves up a gear
with The Cottager's Reply; a passionate eulogy to the importance of family roots
which epitomises Wood's gift for marrying delicate acoustic textures to poetic
lyrics of real depth.
At 13-minutes long, England In Ribbons forms the epic centrepiece of The
Trespasser. Originally recorded as part of a BBC Radio 3 tribute to traditional
dance, music and song, it recreates the ancient travelling Mummers plays that
once toured the English countryside in a gently swirling torrent of fiddle,
guitar and narrative to become Wood's Tam Lin or A Sailor's Life. Come Down
Jehovah, which closes the album, is a another highlight; Wood duets hauntingly
with acclaimed Scottish vocalist Karine Polwart, giving the track a stark,
spectral grace that recalls Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's best work.
As the founder of the English Acoustic Collective, a project dedicated to
promoting folk music and teaching its instruments through an annual summer
school, Wood's commitment to the future of his chosen genre clearly runs deep.
If he continues to produce albums with the fragile beauty and profoundly human
warmth of Trespasser, then that future should be very bright indeed.