JACK WHITE (of the American duo White Stripes’ fame) would severely limit his options so as to coerce the creative impulse: “Book 4-5 days in a studio and force yourself to make an album. Onstage the keyboards are just too far away so I have to leap to get there in time. The guitars I play go out of tune easily and aren’t used by most bands. Constriction forces us to create.”
Andrew Rumsey (News, 8 March) decided to go even further and do an album in one day, using the acoustics of a 14th-century church (St Matthew’s, Rushall, Wiltshire), with support from RealWorld Studios’ chief engineer, Katie May, Rumsey’s long-time musical partner David Perry (guitar, organ), and the jazz musician Cameron Saint (double bass).
His previous album, Evensongs (also recorded in one day in a 12th-century Wiltshire church), won him plaudits from Mark Radcliffe and got him invited on to the latter’s Radio 2 Folk Show. He also worked with Mark Brend (aka Ghostwriter) on his Tremulant EP offering vocals on “pieces that draw on a shared love of antique evangelical hymns and spiritual songs”, according to Americana UK. In his day job, he is the Suffragan Bishop of Ramsbury, in the diocese of Salisbury.
As someone fascinated by a sense of place, a topic on which he has written widely (English Grounds and Parish), it is no surprise that Rumsey is drawn to ancient churches deep in the wilds of Wiltshire with a desire to record songs that, according to The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis, are “hushed, haunted and shiver-inducing”. The title, Collodion, refers to a chemical used in an early photographic process to coat metal plates, thereby delivering a unique, one-of-a-kind image. Rumsey applies this to personal assessment and review: “Wet the plate collodion / let the image swim / until you barely know it’s him / develop all my negatives within.”
Rumsey’s poetic sensibilities merge easily with classic psych-folk rhythms. The ghost of Nick Drake is alive and well here. Grief is touched upon: “A clutch of fading papers in a tin And still I cry within” (“The memorial service orders of friends”). There’s the gradual running down of trust: “Soothing you with two day wine and Gethsemane flowers / it’s not a fatal blow / just the latest in a row” (“Twice is apology”). There is even a spoken poem (“Mattins”), with birdsong in the background.
This record is a short, but highly literate, take on the themes that fill our everyday lives — love and loss, reconciliation and brokenness — delivered with an eye to a more harmonious connection with nature and one another. Not bad for a day’s work. What could he do if he took the week off?
Released by Gare du Nord Records