Laura Cannell – Two winters (from the album Beneath swooping talons, Front & Follow)



Another singular Front & Follow release from the English multi-instrumentalist Laura Cannell.

The instrument on show in this track is the remarkable sounding double recorder, which seems to combine notes from different registers. The best comparison I can think of is the uilleann pipes with the drone operating underneath the melody line.

The effect is something between medieval music and the freaked folk of The Wicker Man soundtrack. A rural sound certainly, a cousin of birdsong but with bracing notes of dissonance. This from the press release sums it up nicely.

Tapping the potent rural landscape and long-dormant musical modes, this album encompasses both wild animal calls and long forgotten liturgical chords, which drawn through Laura’s music seem to originate from the same ahistorical place.

It’s tremendous and is guaranteed to make you forget about social media for a while.



*This second album track showcases Laura’s other main instrument, the violin, again drawing dual notes into collision with each other. Fans of Warren Ellis, among others, are likely to be engrossed.

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