"Wild Mountain Thyme" by Women of Folk
Review
No sooner had a published a review of a local folk icon who is now also part of a supergroup (I'm talking here about Ellie Gowers and The Magpies) than something similar has occurred with solo star & Liam Vincent and the Odd Foxes member Rebecca Mileham.
Her new collaboration is forming one quarter of Women of Folk (no danger here of transgression against Trades Description legislation) alongside Linda Moylan, Lizzy Hardingham and Louise Hatch with a mission of paying homage to the songs and repertoires of the best women folk singers and singer-songwriters of the past and present.
With the addition of Linda's regular collaborator Ian Montague on guitar, they have just released a debut single: their version of the classic song "Wild Mountain Thyme" on the Talking Elephant label. Since Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Kate Rusby are among the (female) artists to perform it, it certainly meets the criteria above.
Obviously with four such voices available, the quality is as high as you'd expect: with almost a superfluity of vocal resources, I was impressed with how they measured them out: no grandstanding but thoughtful, dignified lead vocals in turn interspersed with the sort of harmonies you'd imagine possible given the ingredients to hand.
It's one of those "less is more" affairs which appeal to me: not just the tasteful singing but minimal instruments: just enough to carry the song & add embellishments as needed and no more. Hence you do get to hear Rebecca's violin nice & prominently too. Which pleased me.
Women Of Folk will celebrate the release of the single with a concert at London's Water Rats on 20th November: again I think the prestige of the venue tells you something useful about this new venture worth knowing. I'm not sure if they have plans for gigs around our way, or whether, like The Magpies, we may need to admire them from something of a distance.
