Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Time is both a curse and a blessing, it arrives with sanctity emblazoned upon its noble brow and yet causes more mischief than a devilish imp on Halloween, Time is a cruel mistress and a benevolent thief and without it, music and art is worthless.
About Time, the command that can be barked in frustrated appeal or the conscious remark of those seeking to confirm a piece of artistic endeavour onto the souls of others and for the Andy May Trio, it most certainly belongs in the latter and as the gentle sweep of instrumental folk music catches the ears with their up-swinging and beautifully inspired tempo, About Time is seen as both the mistress and the thief understanding the enthusiasm they install.
For the Andy May Trio, Andy May, Ian Stephenson and Sophy Ball, this collective debut album plays with delicate thunder, with the barnstorming smile that English Folk Music craves, it is the Northern splendour that benefits Time to realise what can be unleashed when the right forces collide together. It is the offspring of Northumbrian small pipes, piano, harmonium, guitar, mandolin and fiddle tempered with tunes that evoke the memory of great halls, of small village public houses and the fireside, the warmth of both coal and wood burning and fanned by the desire of great music. It is in this unleashing that such memories stir and catch the spark of revelation, that a tune is nothing unless played with passion and vigour.
Whether in the tunes Bonapart’s Expedition, The Butcher of Blythe, the comforting feel of Dreams of Yorkshire Tea, the truth in Ian’s Reel or the sense of history being eaten by Time in Peacock’s Trip to the Bigg Market, the occasion is never once lost on the listener, it never loses its way and finds the fog of expectation being offered. Instead it proposes drama, a spectacle of constant reality which unfolds layer upon layer and reveals tragedy, ecstasy, delight and sheer abundance of natural spirit. It is an album that sweeps the listener of their feet and regales in the enjoyment of it all.
It may be About Time, in truth though it is more in keeping with the human spirit, to not allow Time to eat away like rust on a forgotten car on the edge of the Northumbrian Moors, what is rightfully and respectively great music.
Ian D. Hall