Courting Autumn

I chanced upon Pamela Wyn Shannon when a picture of her waring a mossy hat caught my eye amongst the friends of Circulus on their band page. It's not every day I see someone wearing a mossy hat, but I guess that if I were to go looking then Circulus' home page would likely be a very good place to start. I listened to some snippets of her songs and knew I'd have to find an album, and so I recently became the happy owner of a copy of this lovely album, and I am quite taken by it!

Ten of the twelve pieces are Pamela's own compositions, all beautifully poetic, visual and intricate. Some, such as Woolgathering, are quite cheerful with lots of references to the delights of autumn, several touching upon the bleakness of the onset of winter and aspects of loss. Her singing style is also quite beautiful, with lots of careful little touches and details that follow the lay of the stories.

She plays some gorgeous guitar, it reminds me of the playing of John Renbourn. On O Bittersweet Dear Madeline and Pipkin (two of my favourites) it tumbles along evoking a rushing stream glinting over pebbles, elsewhere it is more staid yet intricately embellished, and I keep wishing there were an instrumental or two amongst the songs - not because she needs to break up the songs, but because the guitar-playing is also deserving of a place in the limelight. Voice and guitar are accompanied variously by recorder, cello, violin, glockenspiel, dulcimer, found sounds (crunching leaves; bleating sheep...), harmonium, bowed psaltery, sitar, and other instruments, adding often subtle but rich textures and moods to different pieces.

She draws inspiration from her New England haunts but also has spent much time exploring and performing in Britain and Ireland, and the music of many of the progenitors of pastoral folk-rock and psych-folk in Britain and Ireland during the 60's and 70's has informed her style. That's a rich wellspring of music including the works of Pentangle, Incredible String Band, The Trees, Anne Briggs, Shirley Collins and Donovan, and it shows, she is inhabiting the same spaces and her work sits well amongst them. I am also reminded now and then of Espers at their mellowest, though Pamela always stays tight with the melody and form of the song.

The sitar on the traditional Ca' The Yowes gets me thinking of Pentangle's experiments with sitar, but here the result seems much more effective to me. Michaelmastide is a highlight, the recorders here as elsewhere - and the references to folklore - adding a medieval feel to the song. Cold Blows The Wind is simply magical, and the closing track, Fare-Thee-Forlorn, is melancholy and sparse, a meditation on death and passing, delivered with spoken voice over reversed cello and viola.

I hope that more people discover this album and are as delighted with it as I am!