Folk. . - mixedmedia - sound recording review

New Internationalist, Dec, 2001 by Louise Gray

Howie B

(Polydor 54984 1 CD)

Ever since the balmy 1960s when Bob Dylan went electric there's been a certain awkwardness as to what constitutes folk music and, equally importantly, how it should sound. Luckily nothing like this bothers Howie B, the Glasgow-born musician whose recent career has seen him behind the mixing desks with Brian Eno, Ry Cooder or U2. Folk, Howie B emphatically says, is music that gets people together; it's about opening doors. And that's just what Folk, his fifth album, does.

Typically, there's nothing to be taken for granted here: even the lovely sleeve photos of English mummer-players standing around in fields seem designed to disorientate. And so the album plays its strongest card first. 'Making Love on Your Side', featuring the flamenco talents of guitarist Raimundo Amador and Roma vocals of Marina Heredia, ripples through a dense foliage of beats and carefully edited textures. But it is also a song, and that's the format in which Howie B re-enters folk. There's spontaneity and playfulness, but a tight control of its process.

Bringing in an array of guest musicians, including reggae toaster Sweetie Irie, avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell and Irish singer Gavin Friday, Folk reverberates with a dynamism that can only bode well for the future. Interestingly, Bjork, with whom Howie B has also worked, refers to her latest album, Vespertine, as 'electronic folk music'. And so, too, is Folk, although it'll be interesting to see just how much of a storm it whips up with those who beg to differ.

RATING ****

STAR RATING

EXCELLENT *****

VERY GOOD ****

GOOD ***

FAIR **

POOR *