Album Review: Swirling Flame/ Elysian Fields
Swirling Flame is a nineteen-track collection of new works and their world premiere recordings from Elysian Fields, an eclectic seven-member ensemble led by Jenny Eriksson playing electric viola da gamba with Susie Bishop on vocals and violin, Matt Keegan playing tenor saxophone and alto clarinet, pianist Matt McMahon, Jacques Emery and Brett Hirst on double basses and Siebe Pogson on bass guitar.
The production crew includes sounds engineer Richard Belkner, mastering engineer Michael Lynch, with artwork and design by Lisa Collins.
Much of this music has been written by the ensemble musicians who know themselves, their instruments, and each other best. It is evident from the mix of instruments and musicians on Swirling Flame that its music is going to embrace many styles. What is also evident is how well the broad range of instruments blend to create a distinctive soundscape, performing the music that evokes so many moods from the Renaissance to the contemporary, modes to harmonies, pastoral to jazzy, folk tunes to monody reminiscent of Marin Marais, the master of the early viola da gamba.
Opening the CD is Elysian Fields’ signature Welcome to Country, The Acceptance with words and music by Biripi and Gamillaroi musician and composer, Troy Russell. The plaintive instrumental lament is joined by Susie Bishop’s clear, straight-toned vocals entering and fading on a tinkling accompaniment from the keyboard with alto clarinet, electric viola da gamba and double bass.
Postlude, for electric viola da gamba and alto clarinet, is the final track from Eriksson’s Swirling Flame suite, the rest of which features later. Postlude serves as a link between The Acceptance and the rest of the collection led by The Slow Tides, for tenor saxophone, electric viola da gamba, piano and double bass, composed by bassist Jacques Emery. Not surprisingly, Emery is partial to the sounds of the lower register, creating an insistent droning ostinato bass beneath the piano, ornamented with fluttering riffs from the saxophone.
Australian composer Alice Chance features twice on Swirling Flame. Tetris is a catchy, multi-metric piece with jazzy harmonies in which Eriksson’s electric viola da gamba and Matt McMahon’s piano are equal partners. Music and words have been written by Chance in Shadow, which tells of light and darkness, colour and shadow in a swirling ballad where the voice is in interplay with the ensemble in an evocative intertwining of word-painting and music.
The Queen’s Court, a suite for solo electric viola da gamba by Matt Keegan explores the possibilities of the instrument in its five pieces, Queen’s Decree, A Royal Quandary, The Spanish Prince, Death and Taxes and Love and Consequence. Double stops and crisp chords alternate with meandering melodies over bass pedal points in a creative journey on his instrument.
Siebe Pogson’s Dark Dreaming pairs his electric bass with Eriksson’s electric viol in a brooding piece in which the viol, this time with a phaser pedal, loops over a syncopated lower line. The bass takes over in improvisatory fashion with the viol circling around some ethereal acoustic effects. In a marked contrast, Von-Hope by Icelandic composer Hildigunnur Rúnarsdóttir is based on an Icelandic folk song and true to its inspiration transports us to an idyllic pastoral setting.
Eriksson and Keegan on alto clarinet return for the rest of the Swirling Flame Suite, comprising Prelude, Menuet, Gigue, Interlude, Sarabande/Double and Le Tourbillon. The analogy between the titles of the movements and early French baroque suites is hard to miss and the aesthetic is evocative of the gamba music of those times.
Closing out this collection is the very cool November, for tenor saxophone, electric viola da gamba, piano and double bass by Matt McMahon which would sit well in any jazz club.
The little compendium accompanying the CD contains engaging images, musician biographies, insights, song texts and a track list with performers.
The original viola da gamba’s sound is well emulated by its electric version. It is improvisatory, sonorous and lyrical. Eriksson’s electrified instrument is able to augment and enhance the sound without distorting the instrument’s distinctive character. This endows the instrument with longevity and relevance as it offers possibilities of being part of a much larger ensemble, playing larger venues and new music, all the while harking back to its roots five centuries ago.
Innovative and very easy on the ear.
Shamistha de Soysa for SoundsLikeSydney©
Swirling Flame is released on Earshift Music in 2025 on CD and digital formats, distributed worldwide by MGM, Proper UK and Bertus Europe.
Read our review of Elysian Fields’ album Fika.
