Learning stuff is brilliant. Did you know that a “Kitsune” is a shape-shifting fox? From Japanese folklore? One that transforms into a human woman? Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow taught us that at the Downend Folk Club. That and so much more.
The idea of the Kitsune is strangely fitting for two of the most remarkable singers to have graced the little Frenchay stage. Before a chord was struck these two looked different from every other winsome folk duo. No flowers in their hair. No floaty dresses. No violins, cellos and accordions. Hell no. O’Hooley and Tidow are biker chic; tattoos and nose rings, muscles and attitude. Then they sing. And play piano.
They start with the title track of the new album, “The Hum, a song about factories, working people and Huddersfield. The two harmonise with ease, their voices twisting and weaving throwing out tendrils to drag you in. Then, just as you have them pegged as tellers of Northern tales, careful, loving painters of sad little lives, they transform. They stop your heart with something beautiful. They sing of song of such power, grace and majesty that the whole world seems to pause and listen.
After “Two Mothers”, also taken from “The Hum”, there was a moment of stunned silence. Just a moment before the applause. A song about Britain’s child migration scheme of the 70s (more stuff to learn about!) delivered with such intensity and heartbreak, with such anger and tenderness. You would say it was a highlight of the night, were it not for the fact that almost every song was exquisite.
Staggering a capella versions of songs by Ewan Maccoll and Massive Attack (a slowed, gorgeous take on “Teardrop”) as well as traditional Irish songs, learned from Belinda’s father, could almost make you believe that these two deal only in hushed folky airs. But then they transform again. Into Nothern folk club comedians, sending each other up, telling stories, cracking jokes and professing a love of real ale.
If folk music is about giving voices to the voiceless then O’Hooley and Tidow embody everything that is right with folk music just now. “The Hum” reminds us about the smallest and the weakest, the hard working and defiant. Raw, husky voices tell us things that we need to learn and remind us of things too easily forgotten. Then, delivered with no amplification in the middle of the audience, they give us “The Parting Glass” and send us home smiling, privileged to have shared something damn special. The night transformed.
Just a note has to go to the support act, Robert Lane, too. He might not have the transformative power of the headliners just yet but he kicked the whole evening off in fine style. A singer of Brummy 12 bar blues with strummed edges as well as acoustic, summery tunes perfect for campfires. He inspired a mass sing-along to his cover of the Bee-Gees “To Love Somebody” and that, frankly, has to be applauded.
Jackie Oates is up next at the Folk Club. It’ll be real.
Gavin McNamara
TallFolk 