V/A – THE FOOD OF LOVE PROJECT (Autolycus Records)
“If music be the food of love, play on” is doubtless one
of the most misconstrued quotations from English literature. Duke Orsino is not cueing up some Illyrian
bedroom jamz to get in the jiggy mood, but in context of the speech he’s trying
to kill his romantic desires with music (whilst also being a bit of an affected
pouty flouncer, to be honest). We
wouldn’t like to predict whether the participants in this compilation,
co-curated by Sebastian Reynolds’ PinDrop Publicity and featuring a strong
Oxford contingent, realise this but it must be said that this neo-folk album
has more to do with Shakespeare’s era than his oeuvre; Alasdair Roberts admits
the song he sings is “referenced somewhat obliquely” by the bard, which about
sums up the approach. Still, the
conceptual underpinning to an album is less important than its quality, and
this is a strong collection.
Highlights are Stornoway’s take on Carrol O’Daly’s famous
Gaelic love song “Eibhlin a Riun”, a clean dainty little gem of counterpoint
that sounds like something Johnny Trunk has dredged up from eerie early 80s
kids’ TV, and Thomas Truax’s “Greensleeves” which reinvigorates the familiar
tune as a Plaid-a-like clockwork gamelan lullaby. Scottish singer Kirsty Law’s lovely lilting drone
and voice piece is the most traditional here, balanced nicely by The Children
Of The Midnight Chimes, who sound like a Russian choir going down a plughole
(ie great). Only Mann Castell’s
“Peg-a-Ramsey/ Yellow Horse” is a let-down, some drunks mumbling in a culvert
which no amount of ghostly reverb or flagrant Autotune can salvage: clear the
taste away with Brickwork Lizard’s good-natured take on “Fortune My Foe”, which
ends by tossing the tune into a raucous tavern in which the weird sisters themselves
may well be pouring the pints.
This may not be Oxford’s musical response to
Shakespeare’s universal drama and glorious poetry – we’d suggest Borderville
and Bug Prentice head the bill for that one – but it’s a recommended
listen. A hit, a very palpable hit.
