Reviews
Artist:Anne Wood Album: When Mountains Meet
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 16
Website: https://whenmountainsmeet.bandcamp.com/album/when-mountains-meet
Conceived by musician Anne Wood as a conversation between Scottish and South Asian Music, WHEN MOUNTAINS MEET is a joyful celebration of her Scottish Pakistani heritage. Tracks like "Gilgit Going" nimbly match Sodhi's tabla and Rick Wilson's drums to create a spry international rhythm with Rakae Jamil's sitar, Anne's violin and Mary Macmaster's electro harp dancing together over the top. Titles like "Pibroch Alap" and "Karachi Scot" hint at the connections, informed by Wood's years of experience across traditional music, classical music, punk and theatre. "Pibroch Alap" marries the tones of the evocative Sarangi with Anne's equally emotional violin. The result is heavenly, full of the space of the titular mountains. "Karachi Scot" and "Sitar Strathspray" has Wood's rich violin dancing with Wilson and Sodhi's percussion, and what a conversation it is. "Eddrachillis Horo" and the incredible "K2" are songs with vocals that draw on Scottish mouth music and South Asian singing traditions. Again the joy comes from the beauty in both the contrast and the connections.
At the centre is "Who Am I Here" a reflective existential song from Wood reflecting on her travels to Karachi to meet her Father and his family. With the sentiments of connection running through the swirling vocals of "Wagah Crossing". Like "Eddrachillis Horo" the arrangement of voices is just a delight. Musically and vocally WHEN MOUNTAINS MEET is full of surprising gems, Sodhi's breath-taking vocal and percussive dexterity on "Im Here", the hypnotic "Schist" with its electro harp pulse and surprising vocal, the beautiful "Anarkali" and the space in "Home". As with the reflective "Lahore" and "Lucknow" the depth of the connection between the musicians and the sounds of their playing winding together is just breath taking. Through the miracle of modern technology Lahore based sitar player and vocalist Rakae Jamil added his pieces remotely, but the sense of connectivity shines through. Anne's mother gave her the advice, 'Stand as tall as a mountain and always be true to yourself'.
William Blake said, "Great things are done when men and mountains meet", and certainly this journey and meeting of culture and music achieves greatness as well as being a superb listen. We need reminding of our connectedness and our universal language and WHEN MOUNTAINS MEET does that perfectly.
Marc Higgins
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Pirate is the current session and features 16 fantastic artists check out the website to find out more about them and download your copy
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