From: Pete Fyfe
[petefyfe_at_aol_dot_com]
Sent: 05 March 2012 09:26
Subject: Pete Fyfe - Rachel Hair
review & sleeve
Attachments: Rachel_Hair_-_No_More_Wings.jpg
RACHEL HAIR TRIO - No More Wings
(March Hair Records MHRCD003)
One of my earliest experiences
of performance harp was by ?Harpo' Marx in the film "A Day At The Races" and
again in a film that the title escapes me. The only reason I mention this is at
the way he exploited genres such as classical, folk and jazz to make the music
accessible to the widest possible audience. Maybe the cross-over from folk to
jazz (or vice versa) isn't as dramatic as it sounds for here is proof positive
in the more than capable hands of Rachel Hair (harp), Jenn Butterworth
(guitar/vocal) and Euan Burton on double bass. Opening with her own self-penned
title track "No More Wings" Hair sets the listener up for a bright and breezy
show of digital dexterity that would have the angels smiling in Heaven. With
the addition of Butterworth's vocals and softly slapped guitar chords the
jazz-tinged interpretation of Cyril Tawney's "Grey Funnel Line" pushes the
lyrics at a brisk (but not outrageous) pace and in my opinion makes the song
all the more enjoyable. With the aid of tasteful breathy vocals (think Clannad
or Enya) on several tracks adding a dynamic splash of colour to proceedings
this music will bath you, in Radox metaphorically speaking without the merest
hint of being kitsch. It surely won't be too much longer before they add these
talented artists to the roster of the Transatlantic Sessions?here's hoping. www.rachelhair.com
PETE FYFE