What does it sound like?:
Kerry Andrew is an interesting character. She has a PhD in music composition, specialising in choral works. She is also a novelist and loves a story song. No wonder she is drawn to traditional Folk Music. In her spare time she sings in You Are Wolf. Their debut focussed on the folklore of birds. This time, it’s inland waterways, rivers and lakes. Keld is an olde English word referring to the deep, still, smooth part of the river. It’s a suitable title because the music herein is serene and exquisite disguising eerie hidden perils. The joys of outdoor swimming and frolicking with nymphs on the riverbanks are tempered with cautionary tales of drownings, infidelity and murder. For every ray of sunshine there is a brooding dark cloud.
Her voice is as crystal clear as the droplets in the babbling brook that opens the a capella introduction to the album, The Baffled Knight. Sam Hall provides atmospheric instrumentation and Peter Ashwell imaginative percussion. They do so with elegance and grace. There are found sounds, field recordings and multi-layered vocals, especially for the chants and incantations, in keeping with Andrew’s compositional background. Folk singer, Lisa Knapp duets on The Weeper. Scottish poet, Robin Robertson, provides an authoritative contribution to the finale, Let Them Be Left. The tone is deeply rooted in ancient Folk Music but the character of Keld is absolutely modern 21st Century. The producer is MaJiker, the man behind Camille’s beautiful collages of percussion and minimal vocal textures. As a result, Keld is a real aural pleasure, each sound occupying its own space but contributing to a coherent whole that is both sensual and unsettling.
Six of the songs are traditional and six original, equally poetic and intriguing. They are best experienced sequentially, as they meander like a stream, the mood shifting with the currents and the vagaries of the sky, the listener not quite certain what’s round the next twist and turn. On the way, we meet pretty maids, jilted lovers, skinny dippers, ghosts, murderers, youngsters coming of age, witches, a grieving widow and drowned bodies, all contained within an enchanting musical landscape.
Keld is magical and immersive. Treat yourself.
What does it all *mean*?
You Are Wolf have produced a confident and magnificent piece of work.
Goes well with…
A day in the British countryside, swimming in a lake or boating down a river.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Original music of the highest quality.
This is labelled as Alt-Folk. It is undoubtedly the least Folk Folk album I’ve heard. Even if you aren’t keen on Folk Music, you may well like this. It is simply wonderful music, transcending genre.
Tiggerlion says
As Sylvie Was Walking
retropath2 says
Your description had me wincing: babbling brook vocals often signifying a shrill toilet flush. But she’s good. Like it. I wonder if it might all get a bit samey?
Tiggerlion says
No, It doesn’t get samey. At one point, there is an African Pygmy chant, of all things. I think the core four, Andrew, Hall, Ashwell and Majiker, very skilfully apply different textures and sounds to create a variety of moods and atmospheres, whilst keeping it simple and spare. The album lasts the best part of 50 minutes. It feels nothing like that.
Breathe In Breathe Out
Kaisfatdad says
Your capacity to find interesting artists never ceases to amaze me.
Kerry is a woman with many strings to her bow. Presenter on Radio 3, writes for the Guardian and has a novel in the pipeline.
She also wrote Dart’s Love, “a wild swimming chamber opera”. Not many of those about!
Kaisfatdad says
Kerry Andrew’s novel is called Swansong and is based on a 17th century folk song
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/14/kerry-andrew-swansong-interview-debut-novel
She got into fiction by writing Game of Thrones fan fiction!!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/07/swansong-kerry-andrew-review
retropath2 says
e music shows me this is (at least) their 3rd offering. Last years Hawk to the Hunting Gone also features the liked-by-some scots dourie Alasdair Roberts on one track.
Kaisfatdad says
I do like Alasdair Roberts. Magnificently glum. I couldn’t find that track (Doves) but I did find You are Wolf doing a Dolly Parton cover
Here is a body percussion tutorial by Kerry.
If you master it, you can join in with the youth choir at the RAH.
Splendid!
Tiggerlion says
Their own sites says it is their second album. Hawk To The Hunting was released in 2014.
Kaisfatdad says
Kerry talking about her favourite choral influences which include the Watersons.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02slpv9
And explaining about being a “portfolio composer”.
https://theoxfordculturereview.com/2013/05/30/you-are-wolf-an-interview-with-kerry-andrew/
What an interesting musician she is!
Leicester Bangs says
Crikey, coincidence city. On Thursday night my son was in a ‘snappy opera’ written by Kerry Andrew.
Kaisfatdad says
A snappy opera? What is that? Now I know:
“Snappy Operas gives young people the opportunity to work with composers and librettists to develop and stage a ten minute piece with the support of artists and Mahogany Opera Group workshop leaders. Each opera is written for children’s voices with a flexible accompaniment to allow them to be learned in a single day and performed as widely as possible.”
http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/music_teacher/mahogany-opera-group-announces-new-focus-2018/
Kerry seems to be very keen about working with kids. All a part of being a portfolio conductor.
She is also an interesting radio DJ who enjoys doing theme-based shows. This one was on gold:
Kaisfatdad says
I wonder if Axl Rose would recognise this.
It’s Kerry with the Juice Vocal Ensemble along MaJiker who produced her album.
An interesting combo with a strong sense of the visual.
http://juicevocalensemble.net/
And now a Kate B cover arranged by Ms Andrew.
Tiggerlion says
You Are Wolf are promoting Keld in a tour. Tickets are reasonably priced:
April 27th You Are Wolf ‘Keld’ album launch/Duotone album launch with Nest Collective, Foundling Museum, London
May 31st You Are Wolf, solo, The Lost Words event with Jackie Morris, Hay Festival, Hay-on-Wye
June 8th You Are Wolf, Keld tour, National Early Music Centre, York
June 9th You Are Wolf, solo show, Keld tour, Wainsgate Chapel, Hebden Bridge
June 16th You Are Wolf, solo show, Keld Tour, Bermondsey Folk Club, London
June 23rd You Are Wolf, Keld Tour, The Pumphouse, Aldeburgh Festival
June 24th You Are Wolf, Keld Tour, Leigh Folk Festival
September 13th South London Folklore Society talk, Swansong
October 12th You Are Wolf, solo show, Keld tour, Bodmin Folk Club, Cornwall
October 13th You Are Wolf, solo show, Keld tour, The Ale House, Colwall, Herefordshire
October 14th You Are Wolf, solo show, Keld Tour+Swansong, Clapham Omnibus, London
Kaisfatdad says
YAW are playing some marvelous venues. The Foundling Museum in particular seems a great choice for an artist so interested in dark and mysterious folk tales.
Baron Harkonnen says
Magnificent says Tiggs, that’ll do for me. This lady Kerry sounds like a cross between Wonder Woman & Kate Bush.
Tiggerlion says
Steady.
Moose the Mooche says
Bloody hell. How flappy would those arms be?
Kaisfatdad says
Kerry Andrew is a keen user of Spotify.
Here is a playlist of songs that inspired Keld
And here is a compilation of other stuff that she sings on including the Juice Vocal Ensemble, Dollyman and other odds and sods.
That should keep us busy, Tigger.
Tiggerlion says
Wonderful stuff, KFD. I just hope The Afterword is listening.