Irish singer Lauren Kinsella’s unusual fusion of abstract improv, Norma Winstone-like textures, postbop and poetry have already been acclaimed, but Blue Eyed Hawk stretches her eclectic talents further in a composing collective with Laura Jurd (trumpet), Alex Ross (guitar/effects/vocals) and Corrie Dick (drums/harmonium/vocals). Polar Bear associates Leafcutter John and Tom Herbert respectively intensify the music electronically, and revealingly simplify it by unfussy production, and the session is a genuinely uncategorisable venture – merging many sources, but emerging with a unique creative signature. Early on, Roth’s thrashing guitar, Dick’s drums onslaught, and Jurd’s stalking, Miles-fusion horn presage a double-taking swerve into a feverishly abstract Somewhere (Over the Rainbow). Living in the Fast Lane hurtles by on a stamping punk hook, Valediction, O Do Not Love Too Long and For Tom & Everything (the first two opening against simple piano and harmonium chords, the third against Frisellian guitar) deploy Kinsella’s clear-toned, folk-singer’s honesty and Jurd’s warm sustained sounds. This independently creative foursome are confidently navigating their own route.
