Katherine Tickell & the Darkening

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SRD
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Katherine Tickell & the Darkening

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Katherine Tickell & the Darkening
Komedia, Bath
24/05/18

The problem with there being so many excellent live acts out there is finding new ways to describe them, so what to say about Katherine Tickell's foray into the folk/rock idiom? The band are obviously still feeling their way into the genre, and the emphasis is still strongly on the folk side rather than rock, no bad thing as far as I'm concerned.
Katherine Tickell played the pipes and fiddle with her usual empathy for the music of her homeland although many of the tunes are more contemporary if not self-penned, maybe there was a little too much unpractised chat but folkies tend to like it and if it rambles then the rockers are more than used to that. Amy Thatcher pumped away at her accordion almost as dexterously as her clog dancing and introduced some carefully thought out electonic keyboard pieces. Kate Young is also a fine fiddler with the most extraordinary vocals. Kieran Szifris plays a guitar/mandolin with aplomb and has all the right gestures for a rock band which drummer Joe Truswell did his best to ruin with his sensitive use of the drum kit and Cormac Byrne is more than adept with bodhran and a mean player of the bones and spoons.
At their wildest they reminded me of a genteel version of the Pogues and at their coolest they remain at the top of the folk scene. Not to be missed..

I couldn't find a vid or track of them but here's a link to her website: http://www.kathryntickell.com/biography/the-darkening
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
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Re: Katherine Tickell & the Darkening

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We saw them again last week. Slightly different line up as Amy Thatcher was in Berlin having been delivered of twins prematurely during her tour with the Shee and the hospital refusing to let the them leave until the twins were at full term so she was replaced by Heather Ferrier, like Amy a pupil of a North Country primary school where a teacher has a thing about clog dancing and accordion playing. Unlike Amy, who brings a board to dance on, Heather created dismay by dancing directly on the stage and digging great holes in it, she was very good though. Cormac Byrne was replaced by an electric bass player whose name escapes me. Otherwise the review is much as before, still great music and still too much unpractised chat.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
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Re: Katherine Tickell & the Darkening

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I don't know if its just the previous review but I get the strongest feeling that I know them. Have they been on Jools?
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Re: Katherine Tickell & the Darkening

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Yes to Jools(over the last twenty years or more), and the Proms, Kathryn Tickell is a star of the folk scene. She is one of the lecturers at Newcastle Uni's music courses, appears regularly as a presenter on Radio 3 (World Music programmes) and Radio 2's Folk Show, her music, especially the Northumbrian pipes, and knowledge of Northern folk customs are regularly heard on TV & Radio.
There's plenty of stuff on youtube, I'd paste a link but neither putting the address in or using the youtube BBCode seems to work.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
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Re: Katherine Tickell & the Darkening

Post by Little John »

It used to work. I wonder why it don't now. Mind you, I do find it finicky.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
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