Fiddlers, Bristol June 17th 2009
A Hawk and a Hacksaw (AHAAH), despite being from Albuquerque, New Mexico are obsessively Eastern European in their sound. Multi-instrumentalist and former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer, Jeremy Barnes, and violinist Heather Trost have travelled Romania and Hungary, collaborating with the countries’ foremost musicians, in order to assimilate and recreate the folk tradition.
On this year’s superb Délivrance, AHAAH have finally succeeded in marrying their own idiosyncratic musical vision with the Eastern European music that they have immersed themselves in. The album’s compositions appear unfettered, altogether more organic with the moods conjured rather than forced. There is a warmth to Délivrance’s complex and playful tracks that smacks of optimism and tonight’s set at the consistently excellent Fiddlers is a clear celebration of this musical epiphany.
AHAAH perform tonight as a five piece with Barnes and Trost joined by musicians on the tuba, bouzouki, and trumpet. They open the set with the spiked violin and lilting vocals of I Am Not a Gambling Man from Délivrance. Barnes then leaves the vocals behind to focus on playing his accordion with impressive zeal as well as the limited but expertly employed percussion of a bass drum and cymbal. Trost too is a virtuoso musician, equally spellbinding on the violin and the visually and aurally delightful Stroh violin. For the next forty minutes, the band delivers a superlative selection of marches and instrumental folk-jazz jigs that ebb and flow with dizzying muscianship.
Then Barnes, announcing that, “Electricity was not always the best thing for folk bands,” leads the band from the stage and into the centre of the crowd. The five musicians proceed to perform several tracks acoustically, closing out the show in an intimate dream-like pod of music and movement. The up tempo waltz of The Sparrow is mesmerising as the band members swap places in a hypnotic dance, allowing the audience to experience their instruments in turn.
Despite the quality of tonight’s set and the enjoyment to be had, there is an energy and rowdiness intrinsic to the music which is sadly lacking (the audience barely get beyond a vigorous foot tap). But then AHAAH are an American act playing Balkan music to a British audience, a simulacrum that somewhat douses the fire of the musical tradition. By its nature, folk music is linked intrinsically to a community, entrenched in a culture that carries its own gravitas. As this culture is not one shared by the majority of the audience, the music remains as music in isolation; there is no rousing of old memories; no rallying cry to the collective identity. Tonight’s show, if anything, is too good. Perhaps AHAAH should down a few more pálinkas and get rusty with the age and character of the music they love.
