LEVERET - Inventions
RootBeat Records RBRCD38
This is the third album from Leveret, the trio of Sam Sweeney, Rob Harbron and Andy Cutting, and it is superb. English instrumental music is enjoying something of a renaissance at the moment and albums of this calibre are the result. It is fresh and exciting from start to finish.
When you bring three instrumentalists of this quality together, you expect great things but in this case, expectations are exceeded. The accordions of Andy Cutting blend effortlessly with Rob Harbron’s concertina and Sam Sweeney’s fiddle and viola; the melodies, counter melodies and chords weaving in and out of each other with what sounds like effortless ease. With much of their previous material being drawn from old manuscripts, this release sees them concentrate on their own material, and glorious material it is too. From the opening bars of Rob’s Rain On The Woodpile through compositions from all three, the quality is unerringly high. Recorded live in the studio, the ensemble playing is as tight as can be, despite the arrangements being allowed to develop naturally as they happen.
The album has been beautifully recorded too, sweet and warm, with every note able to be heard. And as a special treat for aspiring players, they have included the hand-written musical notation for every tune in the attractive packaging.
An album of pure instrumental delight, and well worth a few pounds of anybody’s money.
www.leveretband.com
Michael White
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Many CDs we review are available from The Listening Post. Check to see if this CD is available. The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 120 of The Living Tradition magazine. |