|
Ian Carr and Niklas Roswall
Step on it!
Drone Music (www.drone.se)
Guitar and nyckelharpa duo Carr and Roswall keep it light but driving on this lively release. Roswall, known for his work with Ranarim, gets a sweet, violin-like tone out of his instrument. Carr's accompaniments and counter-melodies are clean and well-thought-out. The two delicately but deftly pick their way through a collection of polskas, valses, and schottises, some old and some new. They start things off with the propulsive
"Gahn Blenk!," inspired by a thirteen-year-old headbanger in the 1980's. They can be assertive and upbeat, as on the moraharpa medley "Annanschottis/Hummelschottis" or languid and drifty as a summer's afternoon, as on the canoeing tune "A day on the river." On the latter, Carr's guitar drips notes like drops of water off an oar. Very picturesque. He approaches the popular "Napoleon's March" solo, with a slow, pensive rendering. The ballad-like "New hair/Berguven" moves along at a meandering pace, picking up and laying down melodic ideas in stream-of-consciousness fashion. The pair stays on the side of consonance and accord, never letting things get too raucous. It's a sweet but never saccharine listen, even if one wishes they'd cut loose on just one number. Still, you can't go too far wrong with musicians of this caliber. - Peggy Latkovich
Available from cdRoots
Audio ©2003 Drone, Sweden. Used by permission
|
