Communion: The Compilation
Released: Out Now!
Label: Communion Records
Supergroups are all the rage now. Musical collectives, on the other hand, are pretty thin on the ground. Thanks to a successful club night, the brainchild of Mumford and Sons Ben Lovett and Cherbourg’s Kevin Jones, Communion has spawned from a relatively small live event at Notting Hill Arts Club to a sister night in Brighton, and now an album. The concept was to create a community of musicians and provide a stage for the newest bands on the circuit. Communion: The Compilation is the latest piece of the jigsaw.
The record is a smorgasbord of the genre, with established artists such as Johnny Flynn rubbing shoulders with the burgeoning talents of Alessi’s Ark, Marcus Foster and critic darlings, Peggy Sue. Jones says of it: “The compilation aims to give a cross section of the wave of new folk artists in the UK.” It might be because they are recognised names, but the songs by Flynn, Mumford and the like feel authored, styled specifically for this album. Flynn’s In The Honour Of Industry is a measured, reflective song with very typical folk constructs. It is a story delivered over a steady guitar strum with ambient string melodies and resplendent soft brass interludes. It stands in contrast therefore, with his familiar track Tickle Me Pink. Yet, based on this song, it is not extraordinary to describe him as a male Laura Marling. His composition is thoughtful and original and starts the album off positively.
In the current climate of zany pop, folk becomes the music world’s escapism. Listening to this album is like riding a bike through a country lane or gambolling in a corn field. This is not disparaging. The album really does have the carefree, ‘balloon-in-the-breeze” aura. Alan Pownall’s jolly ditty, Take Me stands out in this vein with its jaunty violin and subtle brass accompaniments, which compliment the lively tempo.
On another tack, the genre has always been a vehicle for melancholy. Elegiac ballads come as standard in a folk album and the haunting Peter by Elena Tonra has shades of Alela Diane and Marling. Similarly, the effete vocals of Alessi’s Ark, reminiscent of Beth Gibbon’s on Out of Season, and Mumford and Sons’ harrowing Sister, fall into the ‘in my darkest hour’ category of folk lyricism.
The virtue of a compilation album is that the variety means it will be accessible to all. The stumbling point for this is the problem of filler. In a stroke of genius executive decision making or outrageous luck – most likely the former – Communion: The Compilation is a record of choice cuts. It was almost frustrating not to discover a duff record. Perhaps Pounding Down by Kurran and the Wolfnotes jars slightly, but that might be just where it sits in the album: after the irreverent Things To Do Before You’re Thirty (Beans on Toast) and the masterful February Snow by Peggy Sue. The Sculptor and the Stone by Jesse Quin and the Mets is a touch maudlin, and on closer listen is so conventional, it just sounds dull.
To touch on every track would send this review spiralling into an essay, but perhaps that would be fitting for an album so compelling. Sometimes stepping back and looking at your life is done so self-consciously it comes across as snobbish, but Communion’s understated grace and style is a pleasure for the shell-likes.
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Reply #1 on : Mon April 05, 2010, 18:43:57