Man, it’s been a peach of an English summers day, and a happy crowd settles in to the marvellously medieval Great Hall at Dartington for an evening of spellbinding tunes.
Billie Marie, up first, is fronting a newly minted ‘constellation’ of bandmates. Aiden Watson’s irresistibly groovy hammered tom-toms, plus Jae Spencer-Keyse’s sweeping synth playing, lay a fine canvas for Billie’s supple, precise vocal to express itself.
“I grew up in Totnes, so playing here is a dream” Billie declares. Over a short and sweet set of mostly new songs, she sets a haunting tone for the evening, her uncanny talent shining through with all the usual radiant good humour.
Max ZT, if you didn’t already know, has been dubbed the ‘Jimi Hendrix of the hammered dulcimer’. Truth be told he’s far more interesting than that – less about flashy noodling, Max’s playing style is measured, intentional. Mesmeric in its graceful, spare grooves. A sublime counterpoint to Dan Whitehouse’s silky tenor.
Dan opens proceedings with his solo tune ‘Ingrid’s Stare’, a sweet celestial ballad. Then the pair join forces for the show proper. They share a wonderful chemistry, both musically and personally. The pointillist pitter-patter of Max’s dulcimer sits beautifully with Dan’s intoned evocation of, by turns, a panicked Kabul airstrip during the American pull-out of Afghanistan, an emotional Japanese sunset and a Black Country boozer.
Most of the tracks come from the duo’s Ten Steps album. With its rich diversity of instruments and textures – dulcimer, spoken word, piano, guitar – it all hangs together superbly.
There’s an ingenious bit, late in the show, where the pair set out to improvise a song. Max treats us to a fascinating disquisition on the rudiments of Indian raga – “it would take you 1,500 years to learn all the ragas, which is probably why they believe in reincarnation” – before challenging Dan, sat stage right, to dream up some lyrics for a piece made up on the spot.
“This will be a masterpiece,” Max confidently predicts at the outset. “Or if not, we’ll have a super awkward drive tomorrow”.
After the briefest hesitation, Max caresses out a rapid-fire riff, swooping and diving over his strings in a way that calls to mind butterflies looping in the sultry evening air outside. Dan’s crisp lyrics, of lightning bolts and maypoles, reinforce that midsummer vibe. An evening of uplifting song-craft.
For what it’s worth, they look the part too. Dan every inch the handsome David Byrne-esque silver fox. My date ventures to suggest, as we leave, that Max ZT is also ‘quite a cutie’. Indeed. On the dulcimer anyway, he's proper striking.
This was night one of the tour - tickets for other dates can be purchased HERE
Words by Andy Hill
Photos by Steve Muscutt