A to Z Album and Gig Reviews
XYZ - XYZ (Own Label)
XYZ - XYZ (Own Label)
Remember Folkestra? Well here's a distinctly sparky offering from three Newcastle-based siblings who cut their teeth (and more by the sound of it!) in Folkestra. To keep you up with these Joneses, the line up consists of David and Sarah (fiddles) and Matthew (guitar), and all three are still in their late-teens. Having said that, there's much less of a whiff of brat-pack than you might expect on this, their debut album, for which they've put together an exciting programme combining modern compositions (some their own) with a few traditional ones (incorporating, perhaps unexpectedly, a hefty Scandinavian bias). It's tunes or tune-sets all the way, except for the final track, a Hälsingland waltz, on which Northumbrian singer Kathryn Davidson joins XYZ in delicious counterpoint. XYZ's playing is refreshingly unhurried and with heaps of presence; they resist the temptation to dazzle with hell-for-leather showmanship. And some of the best moments arguably come on the slower material, such as the delicate Finnish polska Eliaxen Speli. While they do allow guest musicians (Ian Rogers and Paul Smith, on bass and drumkit respectively) into the studio for augmentation purposes, the trio does make a powerful and confident sound in its own right. There may be a slight suspicion of formula in their approach to the above-mentioned augmentation, but this I suspect is just part of the learning curve. I'm sure their second album will exhibit an even greater maturity - a quality of which I hasten to add there's no shortage on this debut.
www.myspace.com/xyzfolk
David Kidman January 2007