Mahmoth's Music 6: Sudden Nautical Theme!
Bellowhead, Across The Line, Burlesque, 2006
Link.
So essay season is once again upon me, with all the viciousness expected of Postgradness. This year, the opening salvo's nautical for some reason: literary sea journeys for one, changes in map for the inbound. Therefore, when I poke one of these posts to life, this song obviously comes to mind. By the sound alone, it's from the time when the Empires had long been born, and the long-distance sea trade was just coming into its own, though before steam and steel made it a commonplace thing. The sense of wonder and unusualness in the art of world-wandering is still there, but the span of it puts it beyond the first faltering steps of oceanic navigation.
That aside, it is an utterly gorgeous tune, well-sung, well put together, well orchestrated, etc. The band in question is Bellowhead, one of the weirder outcroppings of New English Folk. Born from a pair of musicians by the names of John Spiers (fiddler, violinist, singer, broad streak of wit ("Thank you! That was one from the Penguin Book of Misogynist Folk Songs and now we'll play you some tunes!")) and Jon Boden (quieter one, accordeon, squeezebox, melodeon, anything else with bellows and a sound, spoon), it's classic folk of the Early May Morning stuffed kicking and struggling headfirst through a big band, so big it has a sousaphone ("Gideon Juckes would like to thank John Phillip Sousa for completely ruining his back."). The full-on sound is glorious, and unfortunately not expressed here, but examples can be supplied on demand, including the joyous Hopkinson's Favourite and The Rochdale Coconut Dance.
Enjoy.