The “folk collective” Floyds Row recently released “The Carlisle Sessions”: just five tracks and eighteen minutes of music. The Oxford-based ensemble combines the singing of Emily Noël with violin, accordion, guitar, cittern and mandolin, bass, and percussion. It’s the type of fare that I’d expect to hear at a good pub across the pond.
The musicians’ technique is good; there’s a contemporary twist to their music but it comes from the past. Maiden Lane, track 4, gives us that taste with the use of viola da gamba. It’s quite the switch though to the guitar-led Song of Robin Hood & His Huntes-Men. My favorite of their songs is the opener, without singing: George Washington’s Favorite Cotillion. I don’t know if Washington danced, but the very thought tickles one’s mind.
This short album takes many cues from baroque performance practice, and it’s why I decided to include it here. The music comes off as fun. What I didn’t like as much was the processed sound of the album; Noël’s voice comes off as amplified and what I really wanted was a more a natural presentation. That idea of hearing this band in a cozy pub rather than amplified on a stage for a larger audience.
If you’re in the market for something different, the “old and forgotten and obscure” as they write in their album’s page, this one might be something you’d fancy.