Something guaranteed to bring a smile to the face and to wash away any winter blues is the new release of a seasonal album by The Guv’nor himself, here accompanied by Becky Mills and son Blair Dunlop. Recorded by Blair at Ashley’s house, it features Ashley providing spoken word, vocals and bass guitar, Becky on vocals and acoustic guitar, Blair on vocals, acoustic and electric guitar along with Judy Dunlop, who provides vocals on “Mahogany Tree”, a poem by William Makepeace Thackeray which she set to music. Several years ago, Hutchings and Mills teamed up to tour ‘The Beginnings of Fairport’ a spoken word and song presentation which told the story of Fairport Convention. ‘A Midwinter Miscellany’ follows the same theme of combining words and song to create something which patchwork of sights, sounds and flavours of short winter days, long dark evenings, and the Christmas celebration itself.
The album commences with Ashley reading an extract of Christopher Smart’s poem ‘Crocus’, which gradually morphs into Beck performing her song “Crocuses”. Less than a minute into the album and I was enthralled and enraptured, with the rest of the world falling away. Instead of being in a New Zealand summer I was transported to a place and time where I was a small child sat on a rug in front of a roaring wood fire, listening to the delicate picking and singing of the woman in the armchair next to the hearth. There is a fragile strength in her words and her music, creating a web that is gossamer thin yet compelling and bringing everyone to her voice. All involved are wonderful singers, each with a distinct style, so much so that it is hard to pick a favourite. Blair and Ashley wrote the delicate “Her Name Was Mary”, yet Blair performs this as solo, with a delicate tenor which really brings the listener in. The contrast between this and the small spoken word piece by Ashley of George Eliot’s “The Mill on The Floss” is both considerable yet also minuscule, as it feels so fitting and bringing the separate pieces together as opposed to driving them apart.
This is a warming and relaxing album, often bright, always without stress and it feels as if Covid 19 has never been. Judy Dunlop is of course Blair’s mother, and here she is working her son as Blair provides the guitar as she brings in a different musical feeling with a more powerful and passionate style. Due to the current pandemic, there is no Albion Christmas Band or associated tour this year, but instead here is a wonderfully curated album. The combination of spoken word, different singers, no percussion, traditional songs, and especially written numbers which have been treated in the same manner, has resulted in something which is simply essential.
This is music for a world where there is warmth and love, not coldness and hate, a coming together as opposed to division. This is music which really matters, not something disposable and throwaway, and needs to be listened to, really listened to, as opposed to something in the background. Put on the headphones, settle back with a glass of your favorite tipple, and marvel at a sublime and superb piece of work.
Rating: 10/10
Links:
https://www.ashleyhutchings.co.uk/
https://www.talkingelephant.co.uk/
