SOUNDTRACK: KARINE POLWART TRIO-Tiny Desk Concert #840 (April 10, 2019).
I had never heard of Karine Polwart and her beautiful and thoughtful music. And I suppose that’s not surprising.
Scottish singer, songwriter and essayist Karine Polwart seldom comes stateside. She prefers to limit air travel in order to minimize her carbon footprint. She took exception, however, to fly from Edinburgh to New York City to participate in the Carnegie Hall Migrations festival, a celebration of the history of the movement of people all around the world. Polwart and her brother, guitarist Steven Polwart and multi-instrumentalist, Inge Thomson, then escaped New York for a day to play the Tiny Desk here in Washington, D.C.
They play three beautiful songs. Steven seems to play the main guitar melody while Karine adds lovely accents.
The first song is “Ophelia.”
Polwart writes songs about hope, music that harnesses spiritual power and lyrics that address important social justice themes. Stories of human emotion and the human experience are also commonplace as in the first tune, “Ophelia.”
“There’s a wind in from the desert
Red dust blows across the sun
It bleeds into the evening
We watch it from the garden
Your hair glints in the strange yellow light
We let go of all our fighting
Ophelia”
There’ some very cool sound effects–wind and warped sounds echoing–surrounding this song and I can’t quite tell where they are coming from (presumably from Thomson). It’s a cool if unsettling backdrop for this pretty song on acoustic guitar with lovely vocals (wondrous backing vocals from Thomson, who also plays a gorgeous accordion solo.
Indeed, the music is wonderful and the blurb describes it perfectly
Lyricism and messages of hope and beauty heard throughout punctuate a stunning accompaniment of inventive instrumentation. The steady, resonant guitar riffs played by Steven Polwart ground the delicate vocal harmonies. Inge Thomson’s accordion lines, combined with an array of percussion instruments and synth-generated effects, add a complimentary layer of sound without overpowering the music. Karine Polwart’s bellowing and drone-like Shruti box provides a sweet serenity.
She speaks with her wonderful accent between songs, introducing the band and then introducing the second song, “I Burn But I Am Not Consumed.” It features a mesmerizing spoken word denunciation of trump, from his hated golf course back in Scotland to everything he does now.
Your mother was a wee girl once,
who played upon my rocky shore.
And you, you are broken boy,
and you want more and more and more.
You build a tower. You build a wall,
You live in fear that they might fall.
You who see nothing but your face
in the sheen of The Hudson River.
The music is wonderful too.
Read the whole thing here and watch a performance on the eve of the inauguration with an orchestra for the BBC.
How does one follow that up? With a song called “King of Birds” which praises the power of small things.–in their guile and their nimbleness.
In it Polwart recounts the legend of a wren who piggybacks a lift on an eagle’s wing. Just as the large bird is unable to fly any higher in the sky, the tiny wren catches a breath of air, soars higher than the eagle and is crowned the king of all birds.
Tinkling bells and gentle guitar introduce this verse
“At Ludgate Hill
where the towers of smoke and mirrors bruise the sky
the pilgrims huddle in
as the tiny King of Birds begins to cry
the people start to sing
to light glory in the dark
to ring the bell
and to breathe hope in every heart”
And as the song reaches its loudest Thomson is playing a cymbal and the accordion while she is singing. Wow.
This concluding blurb is spot on
This performance will quite likely inspire you to learn more about Polwart. The NPR program, Thistle and Shamrock often features her music. This recent episode features cuts from Polwart’s latest album, plus her ideas on movement and migration.
[READ: April 14, 2019] “Medusa”
This is a brutal story about a woman who has been raped. But the brutality isn’t in the way it happened–in fact, when I first read it I wasn’t entirely sure it had actually happened. It’s in her reaction to the event and how it changes her life.
It was raining and the narrator left her back door open as she went outside to take out the garbage bags. How could this man have gotten in in that short time? When she first saw him she thought he was a lost student from across the way. But it soon dawned on her that that was not his reason for being there.
She introduced herself, trying to humanize herself to this man. He said his name although she could tell he was just “trying it on for size.” She got a good look at him–his hair, his tattoos, a good smell of him. She tried to run but fell in her front hall–leaving her in the perfect position for what he wanted. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: SUNFLOWER BEAN-“Moment in the Sun” (2020).
When Sunflower Bean first came out they were a wonderful poppy guitar band. They sounded like a classic indie pop band from the 90s with Julia Cummings great vocals and Nick Kivlen’s delicate guitar sound that also worked in some roaring solos.
