HATCHING HARES is the second album by one time Mediaeval Babe and Wilde Rose Anna Tam. Ahead of Coracle her trio with Paul Hutchinson and Karen Wimhurst, Tam offers us an engaging set of her personal take on Folk music, delivered with her stunning voice and played on an array of exotic instruments.
Recorded on her boat, Anna accompanies herself on her piano on “Brigg Fair” an exercise in space and atmosphere. “Lovely Joan” and the charming “Fakenham Fair” see Anna singing over the gloriously eerie nyckelharpa, its bowed strings giving a Psych Folk edge to her singing of the traditional song. Swedish Polkas “Polska Fran Ostra Ryd and “Polska 20 Ur Andreas Dahlgrens Notbok” give plenty of opportunity for some visceral playing on the Nyckelharpa, a Swedish instrument. “Sleep Soond Ida Mornin’” is a Shetland reel that flies, played on a resonant cello. “St Martin’s Waltz” is a haunting solo nyckelharpa tune written for the Scarborough church where Anna’s parentz, were married. The often covered “The Snow It Melts The Soonest” is an album highlight, Tam’s powerful confident vocal is perfect and the nyckelharpa is just the icing on a musical cake. Another well known song is “A Stitch in Time” Mike Waterson’s cautionary tale of the consequences of domestic violence. Anna’s brisk a capella version is another album highlight and sits well alongside versions by Martin Carthy, Christy Moore, Maddy Prior and Lucy Ward. “Holland Handkerchief” is a collaboration with srah, who layers Anna’s voice and adds textures and creates exciting textures suggesting a whole world of possibilities in working with others. “S Iomadh Rud a Chunna’ Mi” sees Anna singing some Gaelic Puirt a Beaul or mouth music she skips with pace and grace through the lighthearted lyrics with the Hurdy Gurdy providing the sense of the pipes. The Viola de Gamba provides pulsing bass notes and a bowed melody on Burns’ “Bess and her Spinning Wheel” set to the tune of “Sweet’s the Lass That Loves Me”. “Planxty Irwin” is a beautifully played duet with fiddle player Geoffrey Irwin, the combination of fiddle and Hurdy Gurdy sounding more stately dance than folk. Arresting too is “Thanksgiving Waltz” the closing tune written as a showcase for the sound and presence of the Viola da Gamba.
HATCHING HARES continues the template of ANCHORESS, with traditional songs and music, some familiar some not, alongside Tam’s own compositions. Anna’s voice is a considerable instrument, solo or accompanying her playing she creates an atmosphere and compels you to listen. This is music with bite and power not wafty new age background sounds, at home within the board umbrella of folk, but equally suited to late night boundary free Radio Three.
Marc Higgins 05/08/22
https://annatam.co.uk/shop/hatching-hares/
Own Label 15 tracks
Time Past and Time Passing 