Blackwater
Album: Vanderpool
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.blackwatermelodicacoustica.co.uk

Blackwater is an accomplished and justly well-respected duo (Ruth Wells and Tony Dargan), based in the Wakefield area of West Yorkshire; their trademark sound is a gentle, enchanting and highly polished blend of two acoustic guitars and two voices, their partnership demonstrating an almost uncanny togetherness of musical spirit. The tasteful, intricately woven, impeccably managed guitar work is at once almost spontaneously conceived and yet carefully rehearsed; delicately dovetailed, ringing and mellifluous; accomplished yet unassuming; never obtrusive, and - importantly, wholly supportive of the songs, while the vocal work is light-textured, attractive, easy on the ear and similarly even-toned, the part-sharing both well-thought-out and convincing (both Ruth and Tony equally capable of taking the lead).

Those listeners with a taste for more in the way of dramatic expression may feel slightly shortchanged and desire greater textural contrast, but that's a statement, a pointer rather than a criticism. As far as repertoire goes, the emphasis is on quality contemporary folk song, with a particular penchant for the creations of Boo Hewerdine, Karine Polwart, the Drever clan and Chris Leslie and always on the lookout for hitherto-neglected gems - here one might single out for starters Orkney songwriter Frank Keenan's Trick Of The Light and Allan Wilkinson's Breakfast On Bourbon, and Ruth's own Secret Revisited (always a persuasive entry on their set-list). Jez Lowe's recent triumph The Judas Bus comes off particularly well, as do Kay Sutcliffe's Coal Not Dole and Boo Hewerdine's Harvest Gypsies.

They also do a nice line in 70s covers (e.g. Free's Wishing Well here, and Life On Mars in their live sets). Whatever the material though, the Blackwater approach proves nigh faultless, and their vision is admirably consistent: for, being thoroughly professional, Blackwater are beyond any criticism in terms of technique, execution or commitment. If there's any smidgen of reservation, it's that the songs' purely emotional impact might sometimes be thought a touch compromised either by the quiet, understated nature of the performances in general or by the slightly over-brisk tempo at which one or two of the songs (like Follow The Heron perhaps) are taken - but these are subjective or contextual matters of personal response to the material rather than deficiencies in Blackwater's performance.

What Blackwater deliver here on Vanderpool (their first studio album) is an entirely truthful representation of their live act (take a bow, producer Ali Russell, you've done Ruth and Tony proud!). OK, so the immediacy and immediacy of the live situation can never be 100% replicated, but this really is as close as it's possible to get (and of course, there's the self-evident advantage of a recording, in that immediate replay or even closer aural scrutiny of individual details is so easily permitted). It's magic!

David Kidman