All three voices of this newly convened trio boast award-laden histories in traditional and avant-folkery Marry Waterson, scion of a famous folk clan; Lisa Knapp, something of a national treasure since her rendition of the BBC shipping forecast; and Nathaniel Mann, sound sculptor and film-maker. The genesis of their collaboration was a visit the Bodleian Library in Oxford to rummage among centuries-old song sheets and polemics that once sold for pence – the forerunners of social media perhaps – and which inspired the trio’s name.
There are some original songs, but recycled ballads are their basis. Producer Gerry Diver conjures a variety of backings – a dash of trip-hop for Waterson’s gothic ghost tale Ten Tongues, spectral piano and strings elsewhere – but mostly he lets the voices tell their stories. Knapp, ever the ethereal lark, finds her own idiosyncratic way through Birds of Harmony and The Troubles of This World, and there are three-part harmonies on the doleful 16th-century Meat for Worms. It’s expertly delivered, but the parade of mortality and misfortune inevitably weighs heavily. For relief there is only Daring Highwayman, set to a bounding bodhrán backing and delivered by Knapp as 18th-century hip-hop. More lightness would be welcome.
