It’s strange to think that it’s now well over twenty years since Seth Lakeman appeared on the folk scene. Releasing his debut album The Punch Bowl in 2002, it was the follow-up effort Kitty Jay that saw the Devon musician thrust into the spotlight after it received a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize in 2005. He’s never left that spotlight since. Impressively he’s managed to stay true to his musical, and indeed, geographical roots, while managing to connect with a progressively bigger audience, resulting in six top 40 UK albums so far.
There’s no reason why this shouldn’t be the seventh. Astonishingly, The Granite Way was recorded within a week alongside a group of his long-time collaborators, with the album referring to ancient stories that inspired early West Country storytelling. It’s not simply acoustic pop, it’s music that draws upon centuries-old storytelling and instrumentation, yet the skill is how it feels fresh and contemporary, not a rehashing of old ideas with no new impact.
The album opens with the lively stomp and singing of ‘Louisa.’ It’s a joyful start that contrasts with some of the much darker material on offer within. There’s the dark tale of ‘Charlotte Dymond,’ which tells the story of the titular woman murdered on Bodmin Moor by her boyfriend, which is a true story, sadly enough. (If you really want to get the chills, I suggest also reading Charles Causley’s poem ‘The Ballad Of Charlotte Dymond.’) From Cornwall into neighbouring Devon, we also visit Dartmoor on ‘The Black Fox’, a fast song with Lakeman’s voice telling listeners of the mysterious legend of the Black Fox of Dartmoor, believed to be a supernatural guardian of the moors. However, it’s not a bleak record, and there’s considerable hope and glimpses to the future on the likes of ‘Come And Go,’ and ‘One More Before You Go,’ not to mention the gorgeous ‘Slow Down with its stirring viola and gently picked guitar strings.
Perhaps the highlight might well be ‘Won’t Get Me Down In The Mines.’ One of three tracks on digital and streaming, it builds upon a drone with haunting atmospheric strings as a declaration of determination not to be ‘where the sun never shines.’ The mines of Britain with their communities and interwoven politics are an important part of folk culture to this day, but the very real toll that these workplaces would take on lives in so many ways casts a very long shadow.
All in all, yet again another excellent album that shows why Lakeman is so highly regarded. This album is one that’s worth playing repeatedly as it reveals its many charms, and proves itself a very easy record to fall in love with. Lakeman is a gifted songwriter and singer, and clearly very connected to the culture and heritage of the British West Country, keeping alive ancient traditions well into the twenty-first century.
