New music: English Teacher, Miranda Lambert, Keith Price, Marc-André Hamelin

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This article was published 20/09/2024 (694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROCK

English Teacher

This Could Be Texas (Island)

This quartet from Leeds won the prestigious Mercury Prize (which honours the best album released in the U.K. or Ireland) two weeks ago, beating out albums by the likes of Charlie XCX, the Last Dinner Party and Corinne Bailey Rae.

However, it’s likely that few people on this side of the Atlantic — apart from the most fervent NME readers and/or 6 Music listeners — will know the group.

Nicholas Eden (bass), Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synths), Douglas Frost (drums) and Lewis Whiting (guitar) first met while studying music at Leeds Conservatoire. They messed about with styles, sounds and band names before throwing everything in the pot and coalescing as an ambitious, dramatic and poetic indie-rock band. This is a group that will teach you about all the best elements of English music of the past 50 years — from the minimalist angularity of Joy Division and Gang of Four through to the artiness of Radiohead and Florence Welch, from the intense romanticism of Bloc Party to the arch irony of Dry Cleaning, all while conjuring the wit and intellect of Jarvis Cocker and Kae Tempest.

As a quartet of accomplished musos working with a daring producer in Marta Salogni (Björk, Depeche Mode), English Teacher’s musical achievement on its debut album is stunning — but it is Fontaine who truly sets this record apart. She sings, sprechgesangs, recites and ultimately acts these songs in a way that matches the virtuosity of the playing and will leave you smiling at the heft of a group that can invoke northern English iconography, the Brönte sisters, modern racial identity, Dr. Who and Byron and Shelley in the space of one album.

★★★★½ out of five stars

Stream: The World’s Biggest Paving Slab; This Could Be Texas; R&B

— John Kendle

COUNTRY

Miranda Lambert

Postcards from Texas (Vanner)

Miranda Lambert’s 10th studio album begins with a plucky honky-tonk stomper, full of folksy imagery and a jaunty vibraslap sound:

“Well I met an armadillo / Out in Amarillo / And he asked me for a light,” Lambert’s voice swings, “I said a where ya goin’ / He said ‘I don’t really know’ / And I said, ‘Brother I’ve been there twice.’”

It might be an outlier, for listeners expecting a collection more in line with the album’s lead single, the classic rock-channeling Wranglers, but it’s also the perfect tone-setter. Across the 14-track release, Lambert aims to deliver sometimes-traditional country with a lot of heart.

Throughout, Postcards From Texas is a sonic road trip across Lambert’s home state — from the steel guitar-led ballad Looking Back on Luckenbach to the funny, trash-talking divorce anthem Alimony.

Lambert’s voice is where the album finds its cohesion, from dreamy ballads, such as Way Too Good At Breaking My Heart and country-rock swagger, such as on B— on the Sauce (Just Drunk) to classic covers, such as David Allan Coe’s Living on the Run.

At this stage in her career, Lambert doesn’t have anything to prove — and that’s one of many reasons why Postcards from Texas is a ride that works.

★★★½ out of five stars

Stream: Alimony; B— on the Sauce (Just Drunk)

— Maria Sherman, The Associated Press

JAZZ

Keith Price

LacLu (Pukeko)

Winnipegger and guitarist Keith Price is currently teaching in the jazz faculty at the University of Auckland New Zealand. This EP is the debut of his trio called LacLu — a name well known in this area. With Price on guitar are two recent graduates of his program, Francesca Parussini on saxophone and Maximilian Crook on drums.

As with his earlier releases, Price displays a keen ear for mood and movement on this four-track release. Two of the four tracks are Winter / Fog / Morning Parts One and Two. The music is haunting while it is perfectly evocative of the title. As Winnipeggers we can all “see” that winter morning. The guitar drifts and swirls around sax or drum solos with a tangible sense of peace.

The third track is a complex and intense arrangement of Stella By Starlight that stretches the tune into fascinating and angular directions.

The fourth track is called Friends & Whānau. (Whānau is a Māori word to describe the basic extended family group involving several generations.) The music throughout displays a maturity and collective chemistry that is perhaps surprising as Parussini and Crook are both in their early 20s. Price’s leadership is the base without getting in the way of the excellent solos from the other members. As with many debuts, let’s hope for more releases from this trio. EPs also make (perhaps greedy) reviewers hungry for longer releases.

Price has been a terrific part of the local jazz scene and is now obviously fulfilling that role across the world. This is a truly fine “debut” from a mature and accomplished leader.

★★★★½ out of five stars

Stream: Winter / Fog / Morning Parts One and Two; Stella By Starlight

— Keith Black

CLASSICAL

Marc-André Hamelin

Beethoven: Hammerklavier (Hyperion)

Composed in 1818 and regarded as the 19th-century composer’s most fiendishly difficult work, as well as one of the most demanding pieces in the entire solo piano repertoire, Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106 is also notably Beethoven’s longest in that genre, with performances typically clocking a full 45-50 minutes.

However, the revered, multi-award winning pianist, Canadian Marc-Andre Hamelin, proves he is more than up for the challenge as he tackles its four movements including its Adagio sostenuto, the latter offering 18 minutes of pure luminosity while bathing the ear in hushed sonorities.

Following the opening Allegro, in which Hamelin first introduces the opening theme with bursting energy, he then tosses off the Scherzo: Assai vivace, with crisp rhythmic precision. By contrast, his deeply felt rendition of the Adagio takes listeners into deeper, darker sonic climes, with the pianist’s elegiac rendering well paced throughout. The finale Largo: Allegro becomes another showcase for the his renowned virtuosity, as he brings to life its contrapuntal lines with fearless conviction.

Also included is Beethoven’s earlier Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 2, No. 3 dedicated to Joseph Haydn and dated 1795, an intriguing choice that further displays Hamelin’s knack for traversing a composer’s evolving compositional styles. Highlights include the ebullient Allegro con brio, and Scherzo, with the pianist nimbly bringing out its rhythmic motifs in the latter.

The Adagio again displays his rich palette of tonal colour and sensitive voicing of chords, until the finale Allegro assai, brings his performance to a close with the sunny high spirits of youth still sheltered from life’s coming storms.

★★★★½ out of five

Stream: Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Op. 106; Piano Sonata in C major, Op. 2, No. 3

— Holly Harris