Get excited! I know I am. While she didn’t ‘disappear’ à la Anne Briggs, exactly, it seemed for a while that any new music from Mary Hampton – Folk Witness foundation stone, genius songwriter, trad arranger and latterly metalsmith and furniture maker – was off the cards. Her last album, Folly, came in 2011, and while there had been the odd gig or piano study, and regular backing vocal contributions (most recently on Emily Portman’s latest album), it seemed for a while that there would be no new music.
Well, as the header of this blog suggests… there is some new music! Quite a lot, in fact.
First up is Book Three, following two similarly titled EPs released in 2005 and 2007 respectively: “Four traditional songs (two adapted from French folk songs), and one poem setting,” as she says. “The theme they share is ‘Contact’ (with others, with the world, with oneself).” Its cover features an antique image of a beskirted, behatted woman scaling a cliff face: a single rope her only concession to safety.
It begins, appropriately, with an Exultation. Hampton’s second take on an Emily Dickinson poem (after Folly’s romantic No 32), is a simple setting: sparingly percussive and twangy, giving space to Dickinson’s words, which sparingly describe the excitement and apprehension of striking out into the unknown. “Can the sailor understand the divine intoxication of the first league out from land?” she asks.
It’s appropriate to follow up with a song about sailors: The Sailor’s Wife is a well-rounded tale: it starts as a boozy, celebratory affair and threatens a happy ending before… well, it is a traditional song. Hampton’s treatment is sensitive, highlighting the irony of its “to woo, and to woo” refrain.
I Drew My Ship is the trad song I’m most familiar with here – and it’s a nice to hear Hampton’s take on something familiar, original as ever: as is Searching for Lambs. Her singing and playing is exquisite here, lacing the ostensibly romantic story with a sinister edge. Frankie Archer would love it.
I see I mentioned the EP’s final track, The Orange Tree, in my review of Hampton’s Alasdair Roberts support slot in 2016. It’s the most lyrically opaque thing here: a fruit-based mystery that may take repeated listens to unpeel. Musically it returns to something like the opening track, ending a tender collection packed with Hampton’s trademark depth and nuance.
Two of the trad songs on Book Three are adapted from French songs. I have to admit I don’t know which ones! But it’s appropriate then, that for Hampton’s live return (I told you to get excited), she’s touring with a group from France.
Starting on 27 May in London, she will be playing six dates alongside the intriguing, inventive La Cozna. They have produced a joint single to mark the occasion – a setting of Walter Scott’s Proud Maisie, which you can download via Bandcamp or – rather splendidly – purchase on eight-inch vinyl.
It’s quite a thing: the tale of a curious conversation textured with clarinet and recorder, plus more modern-sounding ‘effects’ that reminded me of some of Jonny Greenwood’s soundtrack work.
The tour starts this week – at Café Oto in London, followed by dates in Brighton, Bristol, Lowick Green, Sheffield and Sowerby Bridge. Don’t miss it!
Book Three and Proud Maisie are available via Bandcamp, where you can also find links to gig tickets
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