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Gigspanner Big Band’s ‘Turnstone’ is a career-defining release from one of folk’s most powerfully creative groups.
The easiest way of approaching the Gigspanner Big Band is as a kind of supergroup, and broadly speaking, it’s a true assessment. Not only are they made up of an eye-wateringly talented array of musicians, but they also exist within the grand old lineage of British folk-rock: bandleader Peter Knight was a fixture of Steeleye Span’s classic 1970s lineup and has collaborated with countless other luminaries of the scene. Assembling the Big Band must have been like taking a cross-section of the best and most gifted folk musicians of a generation. John Spiers – founder-member of Bellowhead, one of the most popular folk acts in the history of the genre – brings his unmistakable melodeon sound to the table. Long-time Knight collaborators Sacha Trochet and Roger Flack provide drums and guitar. Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin of award-winning duo Edgelarks complete the lineup. Henry contributes a whole host of string instruments, including dobro and banjo, as well as harmonica, while Martin sings and plays violin and banjo.
So, by most definitions, this is a supergroup. But it’s also possible to look at Gigspanner from an entirely different angle. They seem to exist more as a collective than a band, with an experimental and democratic outlook that sets them apart from most other folk groups. And, as is often the way with collectives, the entity known as Gigspanner is fluid and open-ended. Knight has performed as half of a duo with Spiers and as part of a trio with Trochet and Flack, but as a sextet, they seem to achieve a rare fullness of expression. There is, it would seem, a complete lack of ego in the way they collect, contribute and record songs, which flies in the face of perceived notions of the supergroup. Knight gets to be called bandleader not because he gets the biggest say in musical matters but because he is the one constant throughout all of Gigspanner’s iterations, and it’s worth noting that all six members play on ten of Turnstone’s eleven tracks. There are no prima donnas here: if something like virtuosity rears its head, it is generally as a by-product of lively musical dialogue rather than turgid one-upmanship.
Turnstone succeeds on many levels, but mostly because of that liveliness, that lightness of touch which seems to occur by magic, but which undoubtedly comes about through hard work, practice and talent (all the more impressive given that it was recorded live on tour before being enhanced in the studio). Folk songs are often anything but light in terms of their lyrical content, and Turnstone contains some of the saddest and most macabre examples of the genre, but the Big Band present them in new and interesting ways, intrepid and shifting. All the time, there is a sense of movement. Even on the lovelorn lament Silver Dagger – where Martin sings the heartbreak of a young woman whose mother, a victim of past infidelities, forbids her from being with her lover – there is a breathless, weightless feel, and the song seems to flutter on lacy wings.
The importance of this questing, light-footed approach is reflected in the album’s title: the turnstone is a wading bird with a habit of skittering along the tideline, upending pebbles and routing through seaweed in search of food. The band move things about in unexpected ways. Sovay – a song Knight has always loved – gets a fittingly dramatic instrumental section, a searing electric guitar solo from Flack and a melodic makeover which makes it flow like never before. The vocal interplay between Martin and Knight is particularly striking here.
Opening song Suffolk Miracle becomes a rousing dance (nobody is quite as capable as Spiers at utilising the whooping, jumpy quality of the melodeon), which makes the ghostly twist even more powerful as the music falls away and we are left with the group’s impressive unaccompanied harmonies. What Wondrous Love opens with crunching electric guitars, propulsive drums and strident violins – the very definition of folk rock – and features a defiant lead vocal from Knight. But the band are always aware of the power of restraint, and what starts out as a rollicking thump soon gives way to minimalist passages and an unexpected downshift in tempo: unexpected but somehow completely natural.
The John Spiers contribution, The Rolling of the Stones, captures the weird, eldritch essence of the song. Henry’s insistent banjo underpins proceedings, and the violins of Martin and Knight combine rise through the piece like vapours: the final instrumental section is nothing short of ecstatic. The band turn the combination of two or more tunes – always a feature of folk music – into an artform. The Knight-led Hard Times Come Again No More gives way to a playful new tune dedicated to Knight’s great-nephew, Arthur Peter’s Reel, and the two sit so well together it becomes difficult to imagine one existing without the other.
Hannah Martin’s choices include two songs from Nick Dow’s collection of music from the Romani and traveller traditions, A Secret Stream. Basket of Eggs is full of restless time signatures, which are constantly on the verge of upending or disrupting the melody, giving the song a compellingly uneasy quality. This is befitting of the lyrics, which tell a tale of satisfying trickery which, while despite its surface simplicity, could be the template for a Shakespearean comedy. Betsy Williams, from the same collection, has a beautiful, wandering guitar line from Henry, which has the flavour of North African music to it.
Despite Turnstone’s 73-minute runtime, it never feels self-consciously epic. Most of its songs skip along at a deceptive lick, fitting in everything they need to and never adding anything unnecessary. An eight-minute version of Hind Horn has an easy, rhythmic progression, the refrain egging the verses on. Fortune Turns Her Wheel unfolds gloriously over nine minutes, the musical equivalent of watching a sunrise. It is perhaps the most classically-influenced piece on Turnstone and relies almost completely on improvisation. The final tune set – Northern Frisk/The Red Haired Boy/Moth From Upstairs – breaks the ten-minute barrier, but its eclectic and wide-ranging nature remains a delight throughout. Spiers’ melodeon is as expressive as always, the violins converge and part in ever more elaborate ways, Flack plays a gutsy passage of bass, and Henry adds an earthy harmonica sequence to his dobro and guitar. There is even a drum solo: Trochet stays almost impossibly tight, dipping into jazz and world music influences without ever approaching self-indulgence. The whole thing sounds somehow youthful, which is what happens when you give such consummate and experienced musicians the freedom to experiment with new forms and the time to uncover new connections. Turnstone is a great example of how traditional song can provide a template for exciting new musical discovery. It’s also a career-defining release from one of folk’s most powerfully creative groups.
Turnstone (11th April 2025) Self Released
Pre-Order: https://www.gigspanner.com/shop/
Gigspanner Big Band ‘Turnstone’ Album Launch Tour
April 2025
11 Teddington/Landmark Arts Centre
12 Cranbrook/St Dunstan’s Church
13 Canterbury/Gulbenkian Arts Centre
14 Colchester/Arts Centre
15 Bury St Edmunds/The Apex
17 York/NCEM
18 Hexham/Queen’s Hall
19 Kendal/Brewery Arts
20 Bury/The Met
21 Liverpool/Philharmonic Music Room
22 Buxton/Pavilion Arts Centre
24 Bath/Christchurch
25 Falmouth/The Princess Pavilion
26 Ivybridge/The Watermark
27 Topsham/Matthew’s Hall
Tickets: https://www.gigspanner.com/live
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