What do you get when a Dorset based teacher and a GP jack in their jobs and dive headfirst into their music? Alchemy. Add to the mix of their exquisite harmonies a choir of over 40 voices and the result is beyond. 'The Hour of the Blackbird' is literally sublime
F&T was initially introduced to Ninebarrow via their 2021 album ‘A Pocket Full of Acorns’ – a highlight of F&T reviews that year, so of course it’s a delight to revisit the enigmatic beauty of their harmonies – but this time, ‘The Hour of the Blackbird’ brings with it the elevating, twilight-nostalgia inducing brilliance of Hampshire’s Hart Voices and Surrey’s Chantry Singers for high church-esque backing vocals. Frankly, this brings their music, voices and talent to another level.
For the title track, around 50 singers from the featured choirs recorded their parts on mobile phones and computers, which Jon Whitley then spent 60 hours editing into the song, with finishing touches by Mark Tucker, who also produces the album.
“The response to that blew us away and we thought if one song can sound this good recorded through phones and laptops, imagine what a studio album collaboration could sound like” said Jay LaBouchardiere.
‘The Hour of the Blackbird’ is 13 tracks that work their magic with the elevating, emotive and sympathetic choral treatments that transfigure what was already good, into high art.
Ninebarrow is Jon Whitley and Jay LaBouchardiere – the multi-award-winning folk duo with an innovative and captivating take on the folk tradition. Like ‘two halves of one voice,’ they combine their breath taking vocal harmonies and melodies, delivering original songs that are inspired and rooted in the landscape and history of the British Isles (such as folk favourite ‘John Barleycorn’), as well as crafting unique and engaging original material. With titles such as ‘Teignmouth’, ‘The Sea’, ‘The Weeds’ and ‘Coming Home’ it’s clear to see how important their connection with the landscape and seascape of their natural surroundings influences their creative output.
Named after Nine Barrow Down in Dorset’s Purbeck hills, the duo have already produced four critically acclaimed albums. ‘A Pocket Full of Acorns’, brought with it a very special initiative which saw the pair planting 1,000 native English trees (half of them oaks) and 200 shrubs to form The Ninebarrow Woodland on three acres of land near Gillingham in north Dorset. Now, the young woodland is burgeoning, alive with myriad bird visitors and a flower glade.
Jon and Jay relinquished their respective full-time jobs as a teacher and GP back in 2016 and took a leap of faith into the music business – a gamble that almost immediately paid off. In 2017, they were nominated for a BBC Radio 2 Folk Award: one of the highest accolades in the world of folk music and clear recognition for their outstanding harmonies, high production values, poetic lyricism and magical instrumentation.
Jay explained “Long before Jon and I began singing together as ‘Ninebarrow’, Dorset had woven its spell around us. We were both born and bred in the county and it has played a central role in our lives for as long as we can remember. One of our favourite pastimes is hiking through the Dorset landscape. There’s something about the pace of walking: gentle, rhythmic plodding through the countryside. It’s just fast enough to let you explore the wonderful variety of any given landscape, but slow enough to be able to savour every moment and really absorb the myriad vistas it has to offer”.
And it doesn’t end there. Jon and Jay are always keen to share their passion and love of the landscape with others – even going so far as to organise music themed walking holidays in the area. They take small groups of guests on some of their favourite walks, and a few tunes for good measure.
“We’ve thought long and hard about how to include all the very best views and also how to weave in as many of the little secret spots that have inspired our songs. You never know…we might even share one or two musical moments out on the hills themselves!”
This sounds utterly divine – for someone who loves hiking, music and breath taking landscapes in equal measure, I might just be inspired to see for myself this natural beauty that has brought forth such a beautiful album. ‘The Hour of the Blackbird’ is a keeper – my favourite so far this year, by a Dorset mile.