AMY HOPWOOD
Gone to Flowers
An absolute delight from start to finish, and then once again on the immediate replay! Gone To Flowers is immediately likeable for its quirkiness, extending not only to the delivery, but also lyrically and instrumentally. In the case of the latter, the mononymous Maisie gets a credit for purring on track 7 – the fabulous tale of Igor Potemkin meets Bayun The Cat.
However, all that said, there is much to get your musical teeth into as the album progresses. I’d Rather Be Older Than Dead – initially strikes as a whimsical approach to ageing, aided with a community choral backing – but it does underline a more serious message as all of us will know of those who never made it as far as we wish they had, and that is part of the beauty of this album, entrancing on several levels.
One co-listener commented after 3 songs that Amy sounds like a friend she wishes she had, and that is rather telling synopsis. A rumination on the loss of one member of a partnership that turns into a breakup song! There are twists and turns throughout!! There is a real depth and perceptiveness to the songs, that the initial i9mpression may cover and this is reflective of her wider interests beyond her stated musical and artists=ic influences, so there is folklore and interpersonal relationships, the complexities of life and the natural world around us – a cornucopia of ideas and interests, extending to the range of instrumentation included, from the drone of the shruti, through fiddle, guittaron, cuatro, the tuba on the opening track and piano, recorder and a host of filed recordings, whether that be people or birdsong, as well as the previously mentioned Maisie, plus Amy’s own multi layered voice on All Will Be Well, accompanied by a single drum, there is a range of innovation and adventure throughout the album – truly never a dull moment.
Taking all the misery in the world, dealing with it with a degree of amusement whilst telling some universal truths. As many of us may well have been enjoying the TV masterpiece that is Small Prophets, in some ways, the songs together could form the basis of a gentle McKenzie Crookesque series that people would enjoy immensely, just like the album but at the end would not necessarily be able say what it was all about. We are not being told how things are, but encouraged or even guided into thinking for ourselves.
In among her stated influences, including the music of of Karin Polwart, Tuung and the poetry of Khalil Ghibran, she also credits the illustrator Jan Pieńkowski – and indeed, once stated, it is easy to understand why that may be the case. Amy does populate her artwork with her own images and takes this to another dimension with animations to accompany her songs – fabulous watching and deservedly award winning (visit her website and see for yourselves. (Amy, if you read this, a Meg and Mog concept album would be wonderful, though we would settle for a Bayun feature!). In addition, she takes ideas from interactions and suggestions from others – the experimentation never stops.
Our first encounter with Amy has led to investigation of her previous work and other forms of artwork. We cannot recommend her highly enough and will not cease until you have gone to Amy, every one!
Gone to Flowers