The latest release from nine-piece folk group Shovel Dance Collective, orbiting around the concept of water. Combining on-site documentation of traditional songs, folk tunes and field recordings in long-form sound-collages. The results lie somewhere between folk music, music concrete and acoustic ecology. Released collaboratively by Memorials of Distinction and Double Dare.
Tracklist -
I: The Bold Fisherman, Thames waters off Greenland Dock, The Weary Whaling Grounds, junkyard work next to Dartford Creek, rigging and reeds at Erith Marina, The Bold Benjamin, waterfowl on the Darent, The Herrings Head, water pump in Ladywell, Waves on the Shore, a Creek on the Llŷn Peninsula
II: In Charlestown there Dwelled a Lass, Camera flash on the Deptford foreshore, The Rolling Waves, crashing spring waves by the Cutty Sark, Lovely on the Water, lapping waters by Tower Hill, Pump Organ Bellows being pushed by hand, The River Chess Trickles, Watermans Dance
III: Tourists feed gulls outside City Hall, The Bold Fisherman, ferry east from London Bridge, A Fishermans’ Song for Attracting Seals / The Full Rigged Ship, clergy of Southwark Cathedral and St Magnus the Martyr bless the Thames, the organ at St Mark’s Clerkenwell, a fence at North Greenwich sings in the wind, distant cranes at Silvertown, The Wild Goose Shanty, slapping Thames water under a bridge, The Drowned Sailor, crashing waves at Deptford foreshore, Waterfall and Rain on the River Chess, Captain Kidd’s Farewell to the Seas
IV: Waters of the River Ravensbourne beside Elverson Road DLR Station, Lowlands, The Cruel Grave, pump organs at Nick’s House, The Grey Cock, Dan wading through Elverson Road DLR Station Tunnel, Ova Canje Water
credits
released December 1, 2022
Thanks and dedications -
To travelling communities throughout Europe, to whom traditional music owes a great debt for their work in the production, proliferation, and conservation of so much music. And specifically Mary Delaney, from whom we heard In Charlestown there Dwelled a Lass, and who lived in London for much of her life.
To the writer and educator Roy Brummell, formerly of the University of Guyana who first relayed the tune of Ova Canje Water to Mataio. Also to the great Guyanese folklorist and poet, Wordsworth McAndrew, who collected Ova Canje Water and many other Guyanese folk songs. In so doing he helped to keep alive a folksong tradition and repair Guyana’s cultural self which had been so brutalised by British colonialism.
To Mike O’Malley for his knowledge, time and skill in recording our full band version of ‘The Bold Fisherman’ which opens this release. Also to the great Copper family who have so well looked after and proliferated that song, and which is now inextricably linked to them.
To Rory Salter for his help in recording The Waterman’s Dance.
To Anthony Elliott, for these beautiful photos of the Thames at Deptford, and for the sound of a camera flash charging.
To Anna Peaker for her skill in formatting and designing the cassettes and fold-outs.
To Josh Cohen and Tom Lavin of ‘Memorials and Distinction’ and ‘Double Dare’ respectively for their support and patience during the creation of this piece of work.
To Rupert Clervaux for Mastering the release with a careful ear.
A special mention from within the collective to Tom Hardwick-Allan for designing the album artwork, Mataio Austin Dean for the decorative motifs used in the printed essay, and to Daniel S. Evans for editing and shaping the medleys.
Personnel -
Alex Mckenzie: low whistle
Daniel S. Evans: bowed cittern, cello, pipe organ, pump organ
Fidelma Hanrahan: harp
Jacken Elswyth: banjo, mountain banjo, shruti box
Joshua Barfoot: accordion, hammered dulcimer, voice
Mataio Austin Dean : voice
Nick Granata: pump organ, voice
Oliver Hamilton: violin, voice
Tom Hardwick-Allan: bass harmonica, trombone
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