PARADIGM - Strangeworld
FE 1002/CD

Before I write a word about the actual CD, I would recommend that you go to see this band  live. I went to the launch of the CD at Cambridge Folk
Club and was highly impressed by their musicianship and stage presence.
The audience reaction was extremely appreciative. The band plays purely instrumental numbers - but they are very varied and beautifully arranged
to avoid the listener's ears suffering tune-fatigue.
Six of the ten tracks have been written in part or wholly by Bryan Causton, the talented leader of the band. He plays guitar, mandocello, mandolin & cittern and generally acts as the percussive underpinning of
the group. Many readers will remember him from 'Shave the Monkey'.  His interest in continental tunes has continued with this band as three of the tracks are traditional European .
Anna Ardley  plays whistles, oboe, bombard & bassoon. This wide variety
of woodwind instrumentation opens up many possibilities of differing sounds, including the very continental flavour of several of the tracks.
One of my favourites is the Swedish 'Silkesvalsen' where Anna leads on oboe.

Cellist Ginette Davis, who also plays fiddle, provides many interesting harmonic twists to the tunes, and plays beautifully the very tricky melody line in Bryan's extended composition 'Back from the Edge'.
The youngest member of the band is piano accorddionist Andrew Thompson, who provides the wonderfully atmospheric harmonies for this very varied collection of tunes, in addition to some deft fingerwork on 'Strange Coin' and unerring rhythm on the Breton Gavottes which feature Anna on
bombarde. He also did the CD artwork and design which is clear and very easily read. Bonus points there!

If I have any complaint it is with the sound engineer who has frequently put the rhythm instruments too high in the mix, detracting from the melodic integrity of the tunes. The band plays quite rhythmically most of the time, so we don't need an insistent reminder of the underlying beat.
The CD is available from Bryan Causton, info@strangeworldmusic.com or
01763 231565.