Fear the Flames..

Erm, hello! I’ve remembered the login details to access the blog admin! And for good reason, as Brian Stone has only gone and brought out an album – some of you might already have your grubby mits on a CD as they launched at the end of April, with the digital version landing on Bandcamp today, available now! At the risk of repeating myself (which if anyone who’s read my ramblings before will know is an occupational hazard), it was particularly exciting to listen to this, thinking back to not that long ago (7ish years?) when Brian used to apologetically drag his guitar out after a gig or by a campfire and serenade us with Levellers, Leatherat or Ferocious Dog songs.

Like many artists I imagine the advent of Covid-19 put a sizeable boot into what had developed into a credible means of making a living, so it’s great when those signs of recovery manifest with new releases accompanying the increase in gigs and festivals now filling up our diaries once more.

Fear the Flames is the name of his new album, at 8 tracks and just shy of forty minutes maybe an albumlette? Or an elongated EP. It doesn’t really matter does it? It’s opens up with the title track, some lovely flutelike wind instrument and sparse guitar strums before kicking in with full guitar, vocals and the ever-present Maty Tustian on bodhran. It’s actually quite a bouncy tune as it kicks in despite the subject matter, Anne Askew – one of two women known to have been tortuned in the Tower of London. A brutal and sad tale, the only mercy afforded to her being given some gunpowder to speed the process of being burned at the stake.

What Makes You Happy is much cheerier in theme – and familiar from live streams during lockdown, a feel good bouncy track with a catchy chorus (and a ‘ba ba ba-da baaaaa’ singalong section – during live streams sheep related emojis symbolised a cyber-land singalong by proxy, which even spawned a t-shirt design as a result. As for the song, a tongue-in-cheek observational lament about things, including money, that don’t bring you happiness (although a bit of cash can help!), but ultimately music is the hero of the piece, and certainly I have a lot to thank my love of music for in terms of the many wonderous experiences and connections I’ve been able to make. A switch to 3-4 time gives you a lull before a final chorus and singalong.

Utopia with a trogging beat and almost country-sounding guitar, the vocals are almost rapped. The inspiration and story behind the song wasn’t immediately obvious to me, as somebody not particularly well travelled that’s probably not surprising. Utopia is a bar in Luang Prabang in Laos – which from Brian’s description sounds as close to idyllic as it’s possible to be, but the backdrop of Laos is less harmonious – the most bombed country in the world (by population) by unhappy virtue of being a supply route during the USA’s war with Vietnam, the remnants – many still unexploded – of the cluster bombs (almost charmingly de-dangerified as bomblets) still litter the countryside posing a very real danger to the visitors to places like Utopia.

Why Do You Care? surprised me a bit – in that it’s one of those songs that he’s been sitting on for a number of years – but it has been tweaked which is probably why I was surprised. An unbashed rant initially inspired by a particularly troubling job interview, but latterly adjusted very fittingly to take in the poisonous environment and scrutiny many people seem to face in the choppy waters of social media. It’s definitely something that the world could do with taking notice of, social media has brought many positives to the world but certainly I find it more and more alienating – maybe through residual over-dependence on it over lockdown partially.

You’re Away to Sea (A Life on the Ocean Waves) is what is increasingly a tradition of very personal dedications to family members, and in this case another inspiring woman. Jane Stone is the first woman to reach the rank of Captain in the North Sea, and is Brian’s sister. A heartfelt record of her achievements underpinned with natural familial worries and longing for a safe return, overlaid beautifully with mandolin by Ewan Stevens, I think anyone would be happy to have such a proud but jolly shanty dedicated to them!

When Time Stood Still spews forth from the same vibe as Brian’s lockdown release of The Circle, a muse of the general clusterfuck we make of looking after our world and each other. It’s got some delicious lyrical tricks that appeals to the logophile in me (highlight for me is “and while we speculate, the dinosaurs prevaricate, the asteroid it hits too late” – it’s dark and moody song performed over delicate instrumentation. Subjectwise it appeals to me greatly as I’ve always had a bit of a morbid fascination with the seeming inability we have as a species to act in our collective good rather than just being greedy bastards. Maybe the dinosaurs will have the last laugh.

Anyone who’s seen Brian play live with know that traditional song Ward the Pirate has been a staple in his set for some time, with a stomp box and Ewan again on mandolin, the studio treatment works very well here – as we’ve been sitting listening Ella and I have already been compelled to perform the ‘Ward the Pirate’ dance that she and Karen invented a good number of years ago now! The song is actually inspired by real life pirate Jack Ward, and whilst definitely deserving of its place purely as being a song so regularly associated with Brian’s live performances (and indeed, he does sometimes perform as ‘The Pirate’ after all), it also serves a purpose as a prelude here for final track…

… for Tales of the Barbary picks up the theme, a rolling tale (already in progress and augmented thanks to a book given to Brian by their esteemed highnesses Ron and Beth Peach) with a potentially-challenging-but-I-reckon-it-could-be-doable singalong chorus. Ewan is back on mandolin and adding some wonderful melody, as we are taken aboard a pirate’s adventure in the shoes of an unnamed Cornish smuggler who accompanies Jack Ward in a stolen ship heading for the Barbary, imprisoned in Algiers but released to become successful pirates. The twist in the tale and need for a cheery conclusion was inspired by Karen’s idea to have the unnamed hero succumb to homesickness and return to Cornwall to live off his ill-gotten gains, and it’s a nice touch!

You can pick up a CD for just a tenner, or a download for just a quid a track – and it’s definitely worth it! If you happen to read this on the 6th then now would be a good time as it’s Bandcamp Friday which means they waive their fees given the artist a better return, which is an awesome thing to do.