Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay: The Hawksworth Grove Sessions
Cambrian Records
Toby Hay has been the deserving recipient of glowing notices for his two solo albums, and one expects that this excellent collaboration with fellow guitarist Jim Ghedi will maintain that tradition. If any artists could be said to be kindred spirits, it's these two. Residents of Rhayader and Moss Valley respectively, Hay and Ghedi spent many an hour together in a car during a self-booked tour across the UK, and their shared love for contemporary folk music is attested to by the fact that Hay issued Home Is Where I Exist, Now To Live and Die, Ghedi's debut album, on his own Cambrian Records in 2015. They're both virtuosos, but on this wonderful duo set they channel their talents into ten multi-layered instrumentals that consistently dazzle.
Being on the road naturally brought with it ample downtime the two filled with playing together, and the rapport they shared quickly became evident to both. Soon enough thoughts turned from informal jams to a desire for a more permanent document. The relaxed feel of those jams was preserved when the two decamped to Hay's brother's house in Leeds for a weekend where, equipped with little more than three mics and two guitars, a twelve-string for Hay and six- for Ghedi, The Hawksworth Grove Sessions came into being. With both excelling at crafting settings laced with intricately embroidered patterns, some degree of accommodation had to arise as each figured out how to express himself while still allowing space for the other. Yet even with degrees of self-restraint factored in, the results are bountiful in colour and detail, and the two complement each other remarkably. Free of overdubs and post-session fine-tuning, the recording's a pure document of simpatico spirits communing naturally.
Hay and Ghedi's settings comfortably alternate between jubilant expressions and gentle reflections, the moods ranging from exuberance to introspection. Clearly articulated themes provide a structural foundation for intricately woven layers of swirling strums and single-note patterns. Representative tracks such as “Goat Fell,” “Hawksworth Grove,” and “The Marcher Lords” sparkle and teem with fingerpicking, unison and otherwise, strums, and resonant melodic figures. Many of the songs, both in title and character, suggest the two share a penchant for storytelling, even if the ones suggested by “The Huntsman and the Horse” and “Arran to Aboyne,” to cite two examples, can only be alluded to when the presentation's lyrics-free. In a joyous, spirited jaunt like “The Earls of Errol,” interlocking melodic patterns dominate, whereas the magic of a summer's night is evoked by the nostalgic splendour of “Night, Moon, Dance.” The Hawksworth Grove Sessions: a beautiful collection of folk-oriented acoustic guitar artistry that speaks powerfully on behalf of its creators.November 2018