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Bristol-based trio Three Cane Whale have already established themselves as masters of beautiful, miniature, delicate and complex acoustic instrumental music over the course of five albums. Hibernacula, their sixth, again employ the services of Rob Harbron as producer (Rob also worked on their 2013 album Holts and Hovers and 2019 mini-album 303), this time moving back indoors to record in Bristol’s prized St George’s venue, a space famed for its remarkable acoustics.
The band have always carefully considered the recording location of their albums, with their self-titled debut cut in Redland Parish Church, Bristol and Holts and Hovers in twenty locations across south England and Wales. This sense of place also extends into album titles: Hibernacula means the spots chosen by animals in which to hibernate, a title that leads directly on from Holts and Hovers, itself meaning the nesting places of otters. All of these details epitomise Three Cane Whale’s sound, which is as precise as clockwork and a perfect fit for the natural amplifier that is Bristol St George’s.
We begin with Brandon Hill: Dawn, a minute-long piece with an improvised structure, a first for this trio, although all three players have a background in improvised music. Paul Bradley’s slowly plucked acoustic guitar strings command the sound here, with Alex Vann’s bowed psaltery and Pete Judge’s soft harmonium creating texture. The only other improvised track is Cnoc Breandán, which bookends Brandon Hill and continues its sound, just with the psaltery and harmonium a touch more prominent. Both songs are a lesson in restraint and dreamlike beauty.
Similar in feel is Pete’s Aestune, a piece that first appeared on his Piano 3 album. Here, Paul’s guitar plays a slow, two-note refrain while Pete plays chimes and Alex toys with small shards of mandolin. At the halfway point, all three instruments come together briefly before stepping back and dancing around each other. It’s a lovely piece of music that has the confidence to almost deconstruct the band’s signature sound while giving hints of it. Songs like Sprig from Palimpsest come to mind but with a more daring edge.
Elsewhere, Alex’s lovely little Tryst at an Ancient Earthwork is somehow buoyant and clandestine and is one of my favourite things he has written; to fit the emotion of this little mandolin piece into less than a minute is some feat, and it’s a luminous fragment of music.
Further on, Paul takes writing duties for three songs, including Glass for the Window, a lovely little piece of drama that puts Pete’s trumpet up front and Paul’s inquisitive guitar part behind it, along with Alex’s zither. Also from Paul and feeling like a companion piece to Alex’s Tryst is Witches Hollow, a tricksy solo guitar minute and a half that uses unusual chord picking to create a quietly unnerving atmosphere.
Alex’s Sunday Morning: Rhododendron Mile is another piece that plays with the mood as it develops, with Alex’s (I think) mandocello giving the timbre an interesting burr that the trumpet and Paul’s guitar offsets. This is a great piece of walking music, with a playful momentum and unusual exchanges, giving the sound plenty of life.
The longest piece is Pete’s From the Curve of the Wood’s Edge, an almost five-minute journey into the unknown, with low trumpet notes bringing melancholy in places to pattering picked strings. It is an odd, quite beautiful thing that is strangely cinematic, perhaps like a piece of music from Middle Earth. The above text will give you just a taste of the music present on this wonderful set; it is one to listen to in its entirety and savour. Three Cane Whale always fill their recordings with splendid arrangements and Hibernacula is their most accomplished work to date. Each player’s sound is clear, yet the trio sound intuitive and the music feels like the freest representation of their sound thus far. Wonderful.
Hibernacula (October 2024) Self Released
Hibernacula Album launch, St George’s Bristol – with Boss Morris – 3rd October 2024, 20:00 (Tickets)
Website: https://www.threecanewhale.com/
