Live Review

Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight – Green Note, London

• 7th Apr 2011

There was a full house at the Green Note for this gig – which means the assembled over 40s folk of the local area crowded round little tables eating vegetarian food and listening to folk music, with the overspill leaning next to the little bar drinking posh beer and keeping things generally hush-hush.

I first heard the Waterson Family a couple of years back, who offer a traditional choral folk music with intricate harmonies, singing in rounds. They sound as if transported from a by-gone era, perhaps with the Hovis boy on his bike, singing away tunefully and dolefully. It’s tender, heartfelt music that sounds as if you need to really listen to it in a pub of olde, knocking back a flagon of ale and getting a bit weepy.

Waterson and Knight are a side project of the family, who travel in similar territory, but provide perhaps more modern creations, with Waterson as the lead, with Knight plucking at the acoustic guitar. The album is well produced, and rather stripped down initimate, bordering on the familial, music. It showcases Waterson’s alto voice drifting over the top of gentle picked guitar provided by Knight, with instrumental interludes and a cameo by the amazing James Yorkston. These songs are crafted individually and have their own particular style that makes the album thoughtful and subtly beautiful. The voice of Waterson is soft and the higher notes are drifted to effortlessly.

The gig had less of this softness however. The style of her voice is hard to describe, less shrill than Sandy Denny, pitching near Vashti Bunyan, but with a bit of Yorkshire thrown into the mix. The set-up was very small, and there was not the room for the strings that really enhanced the album. Knight played well, but it felt like he harshly plucked the strings of the guitar which was a big deal in such a small, silent room. Waterson herself sang the songs more powerfully on the night, which lost the tenderness of the album recording. This meant that the sound was lost to make it feel somewhat amateurish, pub-music at times. This might sound unduly harsh, but the withdrawal of this really did hamper the songs, which began rolling into each other. A half time interval fortified the nerves for another listen, but it didn’t pick up to the quality of the recorded version. The evening tended to drag a little as stylistically, without the multi-layered sound of the recording with its instrumental backing, the sound flattens considerably.

Stand out songs were ‘Revoiced’, ‘The Gap’, ‘Sleeping Flame’ and ‘If You Dare’ on the evening. ‘Revoiced’ particularly gave the audience a slow, off-beat guitar with Waterson showing her skill and vocal range. The album deserves to be in your collection for repeat listens, though live it lacked that particular spark that makes the duo stand up as band that could command the £10 advance.