THE
INDEPENDENT
Allie Fox at the Acoustic Underground, Edinburgh
Fringe Festival
About the
nearest Edinburgh gets to the New England coffee-house set-up, this
rotating programme of intimate cellar-bar gigs and late-night open-mike
sessions is the work of the city's Songwriters' Showcase, a year-round
project to promote emergent local singer-songwriters, complemented
at Festival time with a smattering of visiting acts. The stone walled,
bijou surroundings smack agreeably of authenticity and the musical
standard is consistently high.
The first night I was there, Allie Fox was performing a well-crafted
solo blend of folk, blues and country stylings, variously reminiscent
of the McGarrigle sisters, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, in material
that ranged from coolly introspective ballads to bright acoustic
pop. Her voice's dark/light shadings and gutsy edge appeared to
best advantage, though, in the rawer, bluesier numbers, a vein she
also tapped in the first of two accomplished guitar instrumentals.
ROCK'N'REEL
Allie Fox - Joe Louis Blues
Allie Fox
provides a taster for her album Diving for Pearls with Joe
Louis Blues, an intelligently constructed song which gives an
account of the Joe Louis story as a wider anti-racist statement,
and unites it with a blues atmosphere and hypnotic, African vocal
to considerable effect. A stirring and memorable number.
ROCK'N'REEL
Allie Fox - Diving for Pearls - Album Review
Experienced
performer and singer-songwriter Allie, based in the Scottish Borders,
here presents her first CD. Her writing has a telling maturity and
a sure grasp of structure, with admirably direct expression of often
difficult sentiments through a simple but effective poetic language.
Many songs
(like Backstreet Girl, The Meaning of Love and the
title track) deal with disillusionment tempered with optimism, and
display sensitivity and poignancy without a trace of self-pity.
Allie has a fine vocal prsence with clear diction and a purity of
emotional expressiveness that evokes Sandy Denny (though not imitatively).
Allie's
also an accomplished fingerstyle guitarist, with a light, airy touch
and sensible restraint. The musical arrangements on this album are
accessible and listenable, yet with a vibrant contemporary edge.
A subtle freshness and tenderness in the musical settings mirrors
those same qualities in the songs.
The idiom
is primarily melodic, mellow, contemporary folk, but Moon Above
the Rooftops (swamp-cajun meets Soho-blues) and Joe Louis
Blues are intriguingly different. Producer Iain McKinna has
brought clarity to potentially dense textures with a relaxed poise
akin to that on his earlier project "Where the Mystics Swim"
for Mike Heron, a connection furthered by the presence of two of
the same musicians - Dave Haswell on sundry percussion and John
Rutherford on guitar, the latter contributing some impeccable, beautiful
solo work.
The melancholy
I Was Wrong has Border Pipes (Jimi MacRae) and a sympathetic,
understated string arrangement by Allie's late brother Malcolm.
In short, if you admire well-crafted meaningful songs, then dive
in and treat yourself to the glistening pearls on this fine CD.
www.freefolk.com
Allie Fox - Diving for Pearls
Lovers
of Eddie Reader and Angelou call here with confidence, even those
of you who recall Shelagh McDonald! Allie Fox is a new voice
with bags of potential and acres of singer writer comparisons for
cynical scribblers like me to call up. Not that I'd use too many,
it'd be unfair and Fox is very much her own woman. The opening Out
of the Blue is a rolling, chirpy, acoustic slice of silent love.
If all songs are personal experiences then Allie Fox's lived one
hell of a life so far and suggests there's more of a roller coaster
to come. Backstreet Girl is more obviously a folk song, but
some cuts sail just as close to the mainstream, Marguerita
being one such where things try to go Latin. More than making up
for that one blemish I Was Wrong and The Moon Over the
Rooftops with its Cajun air are sure fire and given to the right
vocalist could easily assail the charts.
However
I'm going to save the biggest thumbs up for Joe Louis Blues,
wherein our heroine rocks out over a big fat cheesy organ sound
and integrates a Ugandan choir. At this point she's left the smoky
back rooms of the folk clubs far behind and distinguishes herself
as a writer of tremendous depth and maturity.
There's
a bit of us all here if we're honest; that's exactly what Allie
Fox realises and makes what we know her own. Rather something, really.
Simon
Jones
www.freefolk.com
Mike Raven Column -Two Names to Look Out For
Talking
of new faces, Allie Fox and Neil Thomson are two names to look out
for. They are both Scottish singer-songwriters and they are both
very good. Allie's debut CD is reviewed here by Simon Jones. He
was greatly impressed, and nobody has heard more singers than Simon
Jones.
