Plan B
A man lives in the woods, surviving on want, berries and spying. He composes intricate arrangements that come to him in dreams as the owls watch through his window. He travels, with his songs, across Europe - he finds himself in Hungary, and records 10 songs in A Hawk And A Hacksaw's studios (because the hawk is his favourite bird). They're gentle, unnerving stabs of magical, traditional folk, sung with a wavering voice that could challenge Devendra, CocoRosie and Bat For Lashes but come out victorius. "I once had a lover, her hair black as coal / But I wanted to bleed her and murder her so / I wanted to bury her deep in a hole made for two / For I wanted a lover to love me like you" . The man doesn't return to the woods.
Natalie Boxall
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Sheffieldmusic.com
I've been following Leeds-based Benjamin Wetherill's career with some interest for quite a while, and am fast coming to the conclusion that his output represents some of the best new material I've heard in the past 40 years... Earlier this year, he released the fascinating ultra-limited edition Apollolaan EP, and has matched this with the unbelievably good Laura.
Perfectly mastered, perfectly mixed, perfectly performed and perfectly written, the album is a masterpiece of understatement and subtlety, and has already made it onto my all-time favourites list after just a handful of listening. Stylistically and musically advanced, the album effortlessly fuses elements of folk, blues and experimentalism, producing something way bigger than the sum of its parts. Someone once described Wetherill as the "Cliff Richard" of folk, but that's wrong - he's much better than that.
After so many superlatives, where to begin with the actual tracks? The early instrumentation is reminiscent of 1970s English country music, akin to Matthews' Southern Comfort allied to the poetry and musicality of Nick Drake. But equally we have ..noises off' and sound effects unifying the tracks into a consolidated whole to the extent that, while there really are ten tracks on this CD, you could easily be forgiven for thinking there was just one deliciously evolving sound experience, so cunningly wrought are the instrumentation and mood changes.
I really can't praise Benjamin Wetherill highly enough. It's been such a joy to hear this music that I hearby offer to do my best to help organise a guest night in Sheffield should he want one. This is music that deserves to be heard.
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Whisperinandhollerin.com
This is a simply outstanding recording by an artist whose development as an individual musician is nothing short of astonishing. BENJAMIN WETHERILL has always been distinctive and arresting. His earliest performances, like those of DAVID THOMAS BROUGHTON, caused an immediate stir in the City of Leeds where he is based. Noel Coward, George Formby and the English folk tradition were neatly and idiosyncratically reworked. But something has driven him far beyond the first successes to explore and develop those half-glimpsed possibilities that trembled somewhere between folk song, music hall and jazz. Along the way a number of people have noticed and approved, knowing that there was something about to emerge.
Among them was Jeremy Barnes (NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL and A HAWK AND A HACKSAW). At Barnes's invitation, WETHERILL travelled to Hungary to record this album on Barnes's mobile equipment in Budapest and in the nineteenth century fairytale castle in Tura. Heather Trost (violins and viola) and musicians from the HUN HANGAR ENSEMBLE were recruited, with Barnes and Wetherill being jointly credited with production.
The songs and arrangements are mostly Wetherill's own. Extracts from James Thornton's 1898 "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" are nestled into "Kissing Under Poplars".Another Wetherill song "Oh Sorrow" contains parts of the traditional "Lass from The Low Country" and an extract from "Come Sorrow Come" by the 16th century madrigal composer Thomas Morley. "Shallow Brown" is the one complete traditional song.
These disparate elements are brought together as a whole album of very distinctive time, place and voice. It is common enough to declare an album to be a single piece, but this easily qualifies as a work of unity. It stands apart from earlier EPs, singles and live performances and has (perhaps) already been left behind in some aspects of the live performance.
Laura opens with "For All The Headlines", a classic original song whose rolling guitar tune bundles the listener, gently at first, and then with the compulsion of added violin into a short sweet expression of love, amid birdsong and the turning of the world.
From that generous opening it proceeds, without a break, into the halting clarinet chorus of "Ada", and on towards eight more romances. The album quivers with mystery, archetype and yearning. The streams of music hall, concert party, Celtic folk song, diasporal European dance music and contemporary poet/balladeer flow around imagined histories and personal stories. The album is named for Laura Parsons (whose artwork appears on the cover). Its delicate playfulness will tease and beguile any listener of any sex or orientation who knows the trepidation or joy of romantic love and it will delight all who have known both.
"So Dark The Night", with more birdsong, is chanson-style with a complex melody and a simple arrangement that brings in touches of bowed double bass, clarinet, bratch (I think!) and violin. "Folds In The Curtain" allows Jeremy Barnes in to play some well-placed accordion in a song of memory, lost love and a vapour of death and darker things.
In "Kissing Under Poplars" Wetherill's ever-precise finger style guitar takes a rich leading role. Ghosts of JOSEF LOCKE and AL JOLSON are summoned with lines from James Thornton's song and we are led on to the story of a green-eyed lover who "broke all my fingers and laughed at my sighs". (or is it "size"?) The lyrics, with all the austerity and bleak comedy of a Scots ballad, conjure vivid moments and precisely ambiguous scenes. And then, half way through the album, the sounds of the HUN HANGAR ENSEMBLE are brought into full voice. A cart seems to roll into the song as it ends and the band stand playing a lament in a cobbled town square, with Ferenc Kovácks' trumpet to the fore and hints of a funeral somewhere in the East European distance.
"A Willowing" is altogether prettier, decorated with guitar and tin whistle, and beautifully poetic in in its miniaturist lyrics. Zsolt Kürtösi's double bass and additional voices join the tin whistle in a delightful closing dance. The stately "Shallow Brown" is at track seven, with its evocative prelude of natural and electronic sounds. The song is delivered with a running guitar and carefully judged additions. It's deft modesty keeps well back from the glories of JUNE TABOR's recorded version and is all the better for it.
"Black Waterside" would seem to be the folk song associated with BERT JANSCH and plundered from him by JIMMY PAGE. But this is a new song of Benjamin's own making. It's a song that Jansch could have played, and might yet. Again, the addition of ambient sounds and a gradual accommodation of Heather Trost, THE HUN HANGAR ENSEMBLE and extra voices are well-judged enrichments. Balász Unger's virtuoso cymbalom playing is a highlight.
"How Lonely The Moon" has solo trumpet making its own weary way through a Hungarian evening, discovering a song of weary contentment, whistled first as a sophisticated melody and eventually sung as the resigned confession of a terminal romantic: "how could I explain myself after this? / You caught me dreaming in the July, caught me with a love I can't resist". And, more mischievously tragic: "How useless my songs are. / For what use are words, now you're gone? And what good are the stars?" How could we not fall in love for this delicate seduction?
"Oh Sorrow" has the difficult task of closing an album we would not want to leave. Sari Kovácks' flute begins and the remaining six and half minutes bring back all the elements that have made the preceding tracks so rewarding. It is a song in its own right, but it stands as a reprise of the romance, the musical borrowing, the experimentation and the tradition that make "Laura" such a wonderful record.
Sam Saunders
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WWW.LEEDSMUSICSCENE.NET
In the way Bon Iver's debut album is reaped in the romanticism attached to the isolated log cabin, Leeds folk artist Benjamin Wetherill can claim a similar sense of idealistic beauty in the form of using a derelict 19th century palace on the outskirts of Budapest to record his long-awaited debut album.
Released on Ba Da Bing (home to the likes of Beirut) and Red Deer Club (UK), Benjamin has not only enlisted the help of A Hawk And A Hacksaw's Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, but the entire Hun Hangar Ensemble too.
Anyone familiar with Wetherill's frequently outlandish CD-R releases might find themselves surprised by the almost conservative-like approach of this debut release. That said, Laura is still far from conventional - Benjamin maintains his unique vibrato voicing and bewildering ability to capture a sense of the early 20th century with inventive guitar arrangements and a subtle Eastern European orchestral flavour.
Highlights include the horror soundtrack-like undertones in the 'Ada', with gentle brass, accordion and cimbalom adding creepy presence. More eerie goodness ensues with beautiful strings, natural bird chirps and Wetherill's trademark warbling vocals in the superb 'So Dark The Night', and the heartbreaking leaving-a-lover-behind tale 'Shallow Brown' is likely to be one of the most beautiful songs you'll hear this year.
The latest chapter in Benjamin Wetherill's musical career might see him tone down the eccentricity a little, but Laura remains a dark, mildly unsettling and exceptionally well-crafted debut album.
By Colin Burrill
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SUBBA-CULTCHA.COM
Stunningly beautiful tunes, with a haunting timelessness.
Like a lot of truly great musicians and writers, Benjamin Wetherill is able to craft songs that are timeless, yet pack the emotional punch of something extremely current and very personal. It's fair to say that there aren't many other writers around who are capable of achieving something like that, let alone doing it again and again seemingly at will. Perhaps some of that ambiance comes from the recording venue, a disused 19th century palace on the outskirts of Budapest, a city that bears the scars of it's roller coaster ride through the last hundred years. Wetherill, originally from Leeds, gathered a group of Hungarian musicians together and, under the watchful eye of producer Jeremy Barnes (taking a break from his day job as songwriter for A Hawk And A Hacksaw) they crafted a record that manages to be clearly folk but blend all manner of influences from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries most popular forms along with hints of traditional Magyar music. Some CDs you have to listen to again and again for the true beauty of what you hear to emerge, others blossom immediately. This, thankfully, falls into the latter category. Beautiful.
By Matt Merritt
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MANCHESTER MUSIC
Album of the week
It's another typically triumphant release from the Red Deer stable as Benjamin Wetherill exerts another of his feathery folk excursions. In order to create the right kind of vibe, the whole thing was apparently recorded in an old palace on the outskirts of Budapest. In amongst the beautiful, extremely romantic song writing, you'll find "Ada" with it's impressively arranged European mini-orchestra. In fact the album is produced by Jeremy Barnes (A Hawk And a Hacksaw) who decided that the employment of the Hun Hungar Ensemble (a band of Hungarian musicians) would be a good idea. It is. Clarinet and bits of brass cut across accordion and strings – it's really all quite overwhelming, given the sensitive and intelligent treatment this album has been given. I'd beg you to agree that there is some stunning detail in this piece of work, but to note that his music isn't as fragile as you'd envisage. The performances are so strong and the emotions perfectly tempered, that it really would be almost impossible to get this album any more right. Ben's from Leeds but on the strength of this I think we should make every effort to formally adopt him in our fair city.
By JA
MMMMM
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BOOMKAT
A wonderful debut album from Leeds native Benjamin Wetherill, who caught the ear of A Hawk And A Hacksaw's Jeremy Barnes while touring. So impressed was Barnes with Wetherill's performance that he offered his services as a producer for the album, enlisting his Hun Hangar Ensemble of Hungarian musicians as backup and shifting the recording project to a castle in Budapest. The particular qualities of the musicians assembled add greatly to Wetherill's already excellent work, whether applying sympathetic string textures to the Nick Drake-like opener 'For All The Headlines' or bringing an Eastern European folk feel to the slightly creepy waltz 'Ada'. The combination of Wetherill's deft fingerpicking, his quivering, tremulous vibrato and the versatility of his backing group makes for a formidable combination, always sounding far more articulate than standard singer-songwriter setups, launching into a lyrical, jazzy, yet still rather maudlin idiom on 'So Dark The Night' and the Marissa Nadler-esque 'Kissing Under Poplars'. Another brilliant new artist from the label that brought us Beirut, this is another Ba Da Bing release that's not to be missed.
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GAZETTELIVE.CO.UK
IT'S been a year since completion, but BENJAMIN WETHERILL'S debut album is finally out.
Make up for lost time, track it down and play it do death. You will not regret it.
Laura is a thing of great beauty. Recorded in Hungary, as well as Benjamin's vocals and guitar it features an ensemble of genuine Hungarian folk musicians. Ever a man of surprises, our very English folk exponent is reinterpreted through a romantic European journey.
Benjamin is a performer par excellence who can arrive in various different musical guises. He sings sea shanties, but his arrangements may be far from traditional; he could be the guy in the back room playing George Formby covers, but not necessarily on the banjo or uke - he may reserve his mastery of that instrument for a unique rendition of a Dylan song.
Talking of Dylan, there has been no cries of Judas yet as the Leeds-based singer has plugged in his electric guitar to deliver a completely different feel from his normally delicate acoustic folk songs. I'll leave you to work him out at Stockton Riverside Fringe Festival, where he is nominally playing two sets on the acoustic stage tomorrow.
It is that apparent fragility of the wavering voice that draws you close to the man and his music. I say apparent because though a song like Willowing might at first seem like a delicate flower it has a power to transfix and transform. Whatever perceptions you might have had about folk, they will fly out the window when Ben is in full flow.
Laura was recorded in a disused 19th century palace on the outskirts of Budapest and maybe that is where it picks up some of its atmosphere. There is a mystical quality about music and cover artwork alike. He paints colours in music. Also waves of sweet sweet melancholy. Kissing Under Poplars is almost as rich and organic as the trees, gardens and piercing green eyes that its plot is intertwined with.
A beautiful work, immerse yourself for a rich and rewarding experience.
By Rob Nichols
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THE DAILY GROWL
Here's another cracker from Manchester's excellent Red Deer Club Records. I've already written on these pages about the label's other artists Sara Lowes and Sophie's Pigeons, whose records have been good, but this album is surely Red Deer's best yet.
The artist in question in Benjamin Wetherill, who hails from Leeds and has created in his debut album Laura a thing of delicate and exquisite beauty. The term 'folk' is liberally applied these days and can used to describe anything from acoustic pop to proper old beardy man's finger picking. Wetherill certainly leans towards the latter despite being a youngster. His music has plenty nods towards old pastoral English folk, but there's a more cosmopolitan twist which comes courtesy of Jeremy Barnes of A Hawk and Hacksaw fame. Barnes spotted Benjamin whilst on tour and offered to produce his album, which in turned led to them hooking up with Jeremy's Hungarian mates The Hun Hangar Ensemble and recording Laura in a disused 19th century palace on the outskirts of Budapest. Their magic touch, all haunting trumpets and strings, give it a Eastern European flavour which combined with the inherent Englishness and Wetherill's quavering vocals, elevates the album from being merely good to something a lot more special. Already a contender for my albums of the year, I reckon.
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YORKSHIRE EVENING POST
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Maybe it's the quiver in his voice as he sings lines like "I once had a lover, so green were her eyes/She broke all my fingers and laughed at my sighs" or the light-as-a-feather guitar, string and woodwind arrangements he and producer Jeremy Barnes conjure up with such apparent ease, but there's something very special about the debut album from Leeds folk singer Benjamin Wetherill.
Yes, there are echoes from the past – Nick Drake, Bridget St John, Roy Harper – in Wetherill's very English pastoral folk songs but there's a central European element too, courtesy of Barnes's connections with the group A Hawk and a Hacksaw, who specialise in a kind of Romany-meets-klezmer updating of Hungarian and Czech jazz.
Opener For All the Headlines has the delicacy of Nick Drake's Bryter Later while a woozy clarinet and trumpet combo lend Ada a haunting air. It's the central pairing of Kissing Under The Poplars and A Willowing that linger longest though – the former a murder ballad made all the more unnerving by Wetherill's cut-glass delivery, the latter a showcase for his nimble finger-picking and Sari Kovacs' lark-song flute playing.
"The effect is startling," says the accompanying press release. They're not kidding.
Red Deer Club.
By Duncan Seaman
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