a r t i s t : Nancy Elizabeth
t i t l e : Wrought Iron
d a t e : 2009
l a b e l : Leaf
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Sep/2009
t r a c k s : 11
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 50,8 MB
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"Wrought iron is made by repeatedly heating and working the
raw material with a hammer," says Nancy Elizabeth of the
source of her second albumÆs title. ôThis ancient process
brings impurities out of the metal, making it stronger, and
this was often used to make beautiful and ornate things. I
like the analogy of personal adversity and experience being
the process of forging, and the pure and strong wrought iron
being the end result."
Like true wrought iron, they rarely make them like this any
more. In contrast to the rich tapestries of her debut album,
2007Æs Battle and Victory , Nancy has taken inspiration from
silence and solitude to fuel these strangely gripping, quietly
involving songs. Turning her back on the harp that provided
the musical focus for her earlier work, these beautiful,
understated compositions allow for a fresh instrumental
palette, most of which she plays herself - including guitar,
glockenspiel, vibraphone and a hundred-year-old Dulcitone -
but built around her main instrument of choice, the piano, and
her warm, unaffected voice.
Nancy has forged quite a reputation in the four years since
she emerged from her Lancashire home-town with her debut EP,
The Wheel Turning King. She has performed throughout Europe
and as far afield as Mexico, as well as recording with James
Yorkston on his last album When The Haar Rolls In, and a
forthcoming album of traditional folk songs as part of The Big
Eye Family Players. She also recently collaborated with
Japanese artist Susumu Yokota on his album Mother, and
contributed a unique take on æCornfieldÆ to the Lal Waterson
tribute album Migrating Bird.
When it came to her own writing, Nancy removed herself from
urban life, spending time in the Faroe Islands (her
grandmother's birthplace) and rural Spain (prior to recording
the album in a remote corner of North Wales). The wide-open
spaces inspired her approach to the arrangements. "I wrote
many of the songs out in Aragon where I was staying in a place
with no electricity, so I was really listening to the silence,
as well as hearing conversations in a completely musical way -
to the rhythm of the words."
Nancy worked on some of the songs on an abandoned piano in a
derelict music school building in a Spanish village. ôWhen I
returned a month later, I found that the school had been
demolished. I was lucky they didnÆt come along with bulldozers
while I was sneaking around playing the piano!ö Back in
England, she stayed in the Lake District where she found a
similar stillness, consequently naming the albumÆs two
instrumental pieces "Cat Bells" (after the hill walkersÆ
favourite fell) and "Cairns".
ôI wrote all these songs in solitude, and the lyrics are quite
often based around feelings that I would never express to
anyone,ö she admits. "The experience I have when listening to
music alone is something that is impossible to experience with
another. It's a quiet place when it feels like only you and
the sounds you are hearing exist, and this is the place that I
came to writing Wrought Iron from."
The album is as much influenced by the minimalism of Arvo
Paert and Steve Reich as by the choral harmonies of Judee Sill
and the bare expression of Leonard Cohen's early records. "I
find music attractive in its simplicity." Nancy explains. "I'm
fascinated when I listen to Steve ReichÆs work. I love his use
of voices, mallet instruments and pianos, and I wanted to
bring some of that to the album."
You might catch a glimpse of another of Nancy's influences,
Mark Hollis, on æBring On The HurricaneÆ, with its gentle
guitar intonations, bold piano and building dynamic. The spare
but evocative use of Matthew HalsallÆs trumpet on the albumÆs
musical centerpiece, "Lay Low", is an uplifting addition to
the earthy guitar and hand claps, while on æThe ActÆ we see a
very different side of Nancy, all bluesy sensuality and
arching ardour, with train-track harmonica and a loose guitar
rhythm.
The first single to be taken from the album, æFeet Of CourageÆ
is a good example of NancyÆs more layered writing style. Built
on a blanket of vocal harmonies, the descending scale of bells
and vibraphone highlights the songÆs emotionally resonant
undertow.
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01-Cairns [03:25]
02-Bring On The Hurricane [03:17]
03-Tow The Line [05:22]
04-Feet Of Courage [02:52]
05-Divining [03:39]
06-Cat Bells [01:49]
07-Canopy [04:57]
08-Lay Low [03:46]
09-The Act [03:21]
10-Ruins [05:43]
11-Winter, Baby [03:10]
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41:21 min