We’ve already told you how wonderful the new album from Tamsin Elliott and Tarek Elazhary is. So Far Have We Come is nothing short of life-affirming, and we’re pretty sure anyone who has seen their run of gigs at festivals such as Sidmouth, FolkEast and Shambala will agree.
It’s with great delight, therefore, that we were asked to host the premiere for their latest video, ‘The Returning Light // Late Frost’. It features stalwarts of the folk scene and great friends of Tradfolk, Sam Sweeney and Archie Churchill-Moss, and it was produced by Rowan Elliott, Tamsin’s brother and a fine musician in his own right. Those who have seen Tamsin and Tarek live will recognise him as the third member of the live trio.
“‘The Returning Light // Late Frost’ is a joyful, driving set of jigs,” explains Tamsin, “unique for featuring the sparkling sound of Tarek’s oud. It was fun – and tricky! – to teach the intricacies of jig rhythm. They’re not as simple as I thought, having grown up playing them!”
Tarek continues: “English jigs have a very different feel from anything you find in the Arabic classical music that I learnt. They’re an acquired taste, and the more my ears became familiar with them, the more I liked them. I heard lots played at the Greenbank Session in Bristol, and at Sam Sweeney’s solo concert. It was both challenging and fun learning to play these tunes, and now they’re a highlight of the live set.”
“The tune titles refer to the lovely feeling of longer days beginning in early spring,” adds Tamsin, “contrasting with the classic gardener’s anxiety of, ‘should I plant the courgettes outside yet? Or will there be a surprise frost?'”
Of the video itself, Tamsin explains that it was put together in the new strawbale studio that she and her brother built in the garden. You’ll also recognise some of the techniques used in their cover art; double-exposure film photography by Mostafa Mansours and the artist herself, overlaying the skyline of Skirrid in Wales with the palm trees on the beach in Sinai, Egypt.
Read our review of So Far Have We Come and head to the duo’s Bandcamp page to order your own copy.
