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ALDEN, PATTERSON & DASHWOOD - Call Me Home

ALDEN, PATTERSON & DASHWOOD - Call Me Home
Private Label

This debut album from the Norwich based trio of Christina Alden, Alex Patterson and Noel Dashwood is an instantly appealing collection of acoustic, Americana-tinged songwriting. With simple (though not simplistic) and uncluttered accompaniment on guitar, dobro, fiddle and mandolin, they weave their way through the songs – mostly their own, with three traditional numbers included.

Christina does the lion’s share of the singing, with Noel supporting her with some very easy on the ear harmonies. Their voices have an old-timey timbre at times, though in other places have a more modern feel – varying depending on the material being sung. Similarly the songs vary from the more traditional (e.g. American folk song Mole In The Ground) to the contemporary but very beautiful title track, Call Me Home. Throughout, there is a laid back, gentle quality – this is an album for savouring in front of the fire on a winter’s night, not for dancing around to.

They are cited as being “influenced by folk traditions from both sides of the Atlantic”, and this is evident throughout the album, a good example perhaps being their interpretation of The Riddle Song (“I gave my love an apple…”), an English folk song also found in the Appalachians, versions of which have been recorded widely. They do a good job of it here.

The CD sleeve doesn’t hold much information about anything (though it is handmade and very pretty), so if you want to know more, maybe you should keep an eye out for one of their live gigs – they are playing in several folk clubs at the start of the year.

www.aldenpattersonanddashwood.com

Michael White


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This album was reviewed in Issue 116 of The Living Tradition magazine.