The Voice and the Songs

Caitlin Matthews has a remarkable voice: when I hear her sing I am reminded of a lost era of British theatrical performance and vocal clarity, a sound created for the acoustic stage, without enhancements. Yet her voice also has a vulnerability, openness, and intensely emotional quality that comes from deep within, and owes nothing to technique, but everything to soul and to wisdom.

Each song from Caitlin on this CD was recorded as a "live" performance, so what you hear in the vocals is exactly as Caitlin would perform that song live. There are no digital adjustments of the performance other than typical and simple equalization and reverb, or stereo and spatial dimension, and there are no edited re-takes of single words or notes stitched together to create an artificial vocal track. This living approach greatly adds to the drama and magical evocation of the songs, as they are a flow of voice and consciousness, rather than the result of studio technology.

When Caitlin agreed to record this CD, I had no idea what songs would be offered. When we recorded them I was amazed at the variety of texture, melody, mood, and lyrics in this collection. The songs fall into three broad groups:

1. Starkly dramatic songs and ballads that speak of a primal ancestral world. These include the title track, Deep Well in the Wildwood (1), Fith Fath (3), King Orfeo (6), Sheath and Knife (13).
2. Gentle lyrical songs, including Mabon's Journey (7), and Brightest Stars (14).
3. Mystical and magical songs, such as the medieval Corpus Christi Carol (2), The Leaves of Life (9 ), The Song of the Grailless Lands (11), two exquisitely simple Shaker songs, I Will Bow and be Simple (12 ), and Holy Mother's Protecting Chain (8 ), and the cosmic Platonic vision of the Goddess Arete and the Three Muses, in The Song of the Spindle (4 ).

Arranging these songs was a substantial task. Each of the story-telling dramatic songs was, I felt, a theatrical production in itself, and some demanded a large sound texture with distinctive instruments. The lyrical songs were given a lighter more intimate acoustic feeling, while the mystical and magical songs each inspired their own unique approach and soundscape.

The Instruments, and the Creation

The instruments used for each song are described here, with some notes on the inspirations, the sounds, and the creative process, track by track:

1 Deep Well in the Wildwood: 80 - stringed psaltery, Irish whistle/flageolet in C, piano. I wanted this song to have a pulsing compelling sound to go with the powerful incantation and evocation of the spirits of the wood.
2 Corpus Christi Carol: trichordo tsouras (a small member of the bouzouki family, this example is from Macedonia), Native American Cedar flute. Plus chanting male voice choir. The tsouras is an instrument that has not changed much since the Middle Ages, being a member of a generic group of fretted lutes with wire strings. The low pitched Lakota cedar flutes are said to have been love-flutes, and it seemed to me that the soft yearning sound spoke of the spiritual love and longing in this medieval mystical carol. The chanting was inspired by Armenian choirs.
3 Fith Fath. Various percussion instruments, Irish whistle/flageolet in C, synthesized pipe sound. The arrangement on this track is my tribute to the late Martyn Bennett (1971-2005), a genius of modern Scottish music. The whistle is played in the style of Scottish piping, rather than Irish or free-form jazz styles which are used on the other tracks.
4 Song of the Spindle: sruti drone and high string section.
5 Sacred Companions: didgeridoo, substantial range of percussion, Irish whistle/flageolet, electric bass. The first half of this song is an invocation of the ancestors, so I felt that the second half should be a celebration: it breaks out into a dance, with a free-form whistle solo, with an expansive bhangra beat rythmn on many percussion instruments.
6 King Orfeo: 80-stringed psaltery, and Yamaha synthesizer. This is my favorite track on the CD…for this I thought of the ballad as a film, with vivid episodes and mysterious faery realm setting and ambience. Not the trivial faery realm of Disney fantasy, but a powerful and often dangerous place, just behind and beyond human perception.
7 Mabon's Journey: acoustic guitar made by Michael Dunn, custom built Ultrafox model, with internal acoustic sound chamber. High string section. For this I used an intimate acoustic sound, with a simple guitar backing.
8 Holy Mother's Protecting Chain : sruti drone. The first half of this remarkable blessing song is sung over a simple drone. The historic lyrics included mysterious spirit-language words, so after recording the song, I asked Caitlin to improvise using only the spirit words. This second part of the song, with its different soundscape, is the voice of spirit calling out from the metaphysical and angelic realms.
9 The Leaves of Life: medieval style pipe organ and bell chimes.
10 Troytown Song: Accordion, Susaphone, mixed percussion, harmony vocals, English church bells. My feeling here was of a slightly tipsy village band! And I was reminded, of course, of the Padstow May ceremony which I had attended many times in the 1960's and early 1970's before it became a such a tourist attraction. So I tried to capture that feeling of village ritual, containing the most ancient consciousness, but with Victorian instruments and harmonies.
11 Song of the Grailless Lands. Native American Flute, bell chimes, harmony vocals. For this evocation, I placed Caitlin deep in a mysterious soundscape, with the feeling that her voice is issuing from the earth itself.
12 I will Bow and be Simple. Vocals only, with harmonized vocals from Caitlin.
13 Sheath and Knife: Yamaha synthesizer. This was a challenging song for me, and took a lot of thought and experimentation. In the end the backing sustains the subtle story-telling rythmn of the vocals, with some resonant strings, and simple suspended piano chords.
14 Brightest Stars: Ultrafox acoustic guitar (made by Michael Dunn) harmony vocals. This has the same intimate acoustic approach as Mabon's Journey (7).
15 Deep Well in the Wildwood: 80-stringed psaltery, Irish whistle (flageolet in C). This is a reprise and alternative mix of the title track, without the pulsing piano, and with more of the 80-stringed psaltery.