The Trembling Bells "The Sovereign Self"

[John Etherington]

It seems that the possibilities of the Trembling Bells are limitless. Since 2008, they have made two fine folk-rock albums, a heavier third album, an album with Bonnie Prince Billy, and various E.Ps. Founder members, Alex Neilson and Lavinia Blackwall form half of “Crying Lion”, an a cappella traditional/early music quartet, and have been involved in other live projects including Lavinia’s Sandy Denny tribute, and Alex’s drums/sax duo Death Shanties (which is closer to John Coltrane). In addition, the group back Mike Heron to play authentic and revitalised Incredible String Band music, and also play a similar role in recreating Kaleidoscope with Peter Daltrey.

The Sovereign Self” is a phenomenal and ground-breaking work, in which The Trembling Bells take their music firmly into the realm of psychedelia. The first track, “Tween the Womb and the Tomb”, starts with a soaring vocal from Lavinia Blackwall, in a similar pitch to the opening of Robin Williamson’s, “Waltz of the New Moon” (a song that she covers perfectly in her live work). Lavinia cleverly manages to stretch her voice around lyrics that have a comparable complexity. In other parts, she sounds more like Grace Slick on “White Rabbit”. However such comparisons only serve to illustrate the range of vocal styles of which she capable, and ultimately her voice is uniquely her own. Lavinia also contributes some adrenalin-fuelled keyboard playing (most notably on “Killing Time in London Fields”). She thus plays a dual role as “high priestess” and “female Ray Manzarek”.

The track titled, “O. Where is Saint George” is built around a chorus from the Padstow Mayday song, with verses in-between sung by vocalist and ace drummer, Alex Neilson. The songs on the album (all written by Alex) apparently emerged from the end of a relationship, and a period of depression. The lyrics reflect this, and reveal a high degree of literacy and wry dark humour. Various cultural references can also be spotted. For instance, in "(Perched Like a Drunk on a) Miserichord”* every man that walks by is “decked out like a Christmas tree”, like the grandmother in Jacque Brel’s song “Jackie”;while in another track there is a variation on the "rough beast" that “slouches towards Bethlehem” from W.B.Yeats "The Second Coming". Alex sings very well on the album, and two of the songs on which he takes lead, namely “Sweet Death Polka” and “The Singing Blood”, are the closest things to be found here to the music of the Incredible String Band. The harmonising between Alex and Lavinia on these two tracks is very moving.

Mention must be made of the superb guitar work by Mike Hastings on lead, Simon Shaw on bass, and new band member and additional lead guitarist, Alasdair C. Mitchell, all of whom give their best.The excellent production enables each of their individual contributions to be recognisable. At times, the musicianship is extremely intense and riveting (particularly on “The Bells of Burford”). The final track, titled “I is Someone Else”, is a complete tour de force with some exhilarating singing by Lavinia. Towards the end, the track surprisingly morphs into the “Hare Krishna” guitar drone from David Bowie’s “Width of a Circle”, followed by more blistering guitar playing. In conclusion, The Trembling Bells have perfected a synthesis of musical forms that is highly inventive and unique. It has been said that in the afterlife, we are able to access all periods of history. If this is true, then John Peel must be taking a keen interest in them! (John Etherington)

* It took me a while to work out that this track is a token nod to L.C.!