Helix: Music for Hard Times (CD)

The music in this recording has been over thirty years in the making - the earliest tune in the set, The Bay of Biscay, was written in 1985; the most recent, Dusk in 2018. The nine tunes included here belong to different moments as my musicking has ebbed and flowed around the business of living, and flavoured by all that was happening around me at each moment. These tunes also reflect my growing and shifting musical influences over these years. It's been a long period of musicking, of working this seam of changing ideas. Over the last decade, my contentment and confidence in this music has grown through performance, writing, and arranging with ensembles (e.g. Hard Times Orkestar, Hard Times Kapelye, and Levvy Metal) and for shows (e.g. Amidst the Mirk Over the Irk: When Klezmer Meets Irish; and Vessels of Song: Journeys into the Worlds of Klezmer). It's been a period of sustained support and encouragement for me from a wonderful and diverse collection of musicians, too many to mention here but all greatly valued. So, it feels right to be now putting out some of these tunes with which I have been living all these years. They have come of age perhaps.
credits
released January 1, 2020

Composer: Richard Fay
Mixing & Mastering: Sam Gee
Creative Direction: Frankie McCormick
Project Management: Méabh Kennedy

Graphic Design: Sam Gee
Cover Art: Peter Seal
Album Illustration: Mary Burke

Musicians:
Katherine Blumer [clarinet]
Bob Dinn [trumpet]
Jacqueline Fay [cláirseach]
James Heathcote [cello]
Mabon Jones [violin]
Sarah Keirle [viola]
Méabh Kennedy [violin]
Jemima Kingsland [flute]
Dan Mawson [bass clarinet]
Sheila Seal [piano]
Nina Semertzidou [violin]
Delia Stevens [percussion]
Sophie Sully [double bass]
Imogen Trinder [flute]
Angela Usher [tenor banjo]

Recorded in Manchester by Sam Gee at the Grade 2 listed St. Cross Church (1863) in Clayton and at Levenshulme Baptist Church.