new album released today in the shops. very nice four star review in the western mail last week by christopher rees who made it his CD of the week.
Fernhill, Na Pradle ****
Feb 16 2007
Christopher Rees, Western Mail
DESPITE being born in London and brought up in Essex, Fernhill singer Julie Murphy has become Wales' greatest international ambassador of traditional folk song.
After meeting her husband Ceri Rhys Matthews at art college, the couple formed Fernhill in 1996 after moving back to his native West Wales.
Surrounded by Welsh speakers Murphy commendably committed to learning the language and soon felt drawn to the folk songs embedded in the landscape. In the process, she has earned the respect and admiration of her neighbours and the wider musical community via her mesmerising vocal prowess and the way that she inhabits the songs and the language with so much authenticity and soul.
Unlike traditional Irish, Scottish or English folk music, which has always enjoyed healthy maintenance, ancient Welsh songs have been largely neglected and misrepresented for many years, so what Murphy has achieved with the material on home turf and on stages around the world is quite remarkable.
This new live album is testament to that. Recorded in Prague as part of a British Council-supported tour of the Czech Republic, it captures Fernhill as an intimate trio, complete with Matthews on guitar and flute and Tomos Williams on trumpet and piano.
The natural acoustics and ambience of the theatre helps provide a haunting atmosphere that's enhanced and given character by Murphy's sensitive interpretations of songs like Llatai and the flute- laced Folantein.
Williams also contributes significantly to the overall mood as his Miles Davis-styled trumpet floats in and out of Bredon Hill, while his stark and profound piano underscores the darker emotion of Lloer Dirion.
Murphy's voice really is a thing a great beauty, power and passion and sounds equally so, whether she sings in Welsh, English, or Breton - all the more reason then to applaud her for adopting the language and becoming such a dignified, graceful and worthy ambassador for Welsh folk music.
Na Pradle captures a performance of outstanding purity and conviction, one that might be Fernhill's greatest statement yet.
