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Trio Blurb: W
ByAlthough they have continued to gig together as often as their home-bases allowNichols is in London/Wales, Zabelka in Austria, Russell in LondonW is only their second album, the follow-up to Trio Blurb. The music here consists of two extended tracks, totalling forty-seven minutes, recorded in September 2017 at the all-day Discovery festival organised by Russell in Walthamstow where he lives, and in March 2018 at the Horse improv music club at Iklectik in south London. Crucial to the success of the trio's music is that they are three distinct personalities who all manage to improvise simultaneously without getting in each other's way or upstaging each other.
Given conventional views of vocalists in groups, it would have been very easy for Nichols to become the sole focus, accompanied by violin and guitar; but that never happens, and the three all listen to and make space for each other so that no-one steals the limelight. Of course, Nichols has language at her disposal to grab an audience's attention, whether speaking in tongues, scatting or soaring romantically, but (as the clip below shows) Zabelka and Russell are experienced and versatile enough to have wiles of their own. The end-product is music that is equipped to grab and hold the listener's attention no matter how many times it has been heard. We must hope that the wait for their third album is not another five years.
Track Listing
Wilcumestowe; Work and Wild.
Personnel
Mia Zabelka
violinMaggie Nichols: vocals; John Russell: guitar; Mia Zabelka: violin, vocals.
Album information
Title: W | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Evil Rabbit Records
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