SPRING/SUMMER 2013 No. 101 - Devon Folk

Reviews
DECEMBERWELL
Mike Vass
Can’t shake off those cold Winter blues Here’s a
suggestion - get comfy in your favourite chair with
a glass, can or mug of your favourite beverage
with the heating on high or a log re burning and
let Mike Vass and his latest album, Decemberwell,
invade your home with the sounds of nature’s
toughest season, without you having to step
outside and endure it.
Decemberwell is a concept album of sorts or at
least a themed album, but it may not be obvious.
This is an instrumental album, and a great one at
that, and the majority of tracks are inspired by the
wintry season or were supposedly written during
that time.
Mike Vass is an immensely talented award-winning
young musician and composer from Scotland.
He is, perhaps, best known for his New Voices
commision at Celtic Connections and the critically
acclaimed album, String Theory, featuring a sevenpiece
line-up, which includes his sister, Ali.
Some might be familiar with Mike’s involvement
with the bands, Malinky and Fidde Rendezvous.
Among his accolades he is the winner of the
Neil Gow International Composition Award, the
Scottish Trad Awards (Composer Of The Year) and
is hailed as one of Scotland’s nest ddle players.
However, whilst there is plenty of ddle to savour
on the album, what strikes me is the sheer wealth
of instrumentation the album boasts, especially
considering it all comes from the same source -
Mr. Vass himself. Mike paints his wintery soundscapes
prociently with instruments ranging from
Fiddle, Acoustic Guitar, Tenor Guitar and Cittern
to Piano, Melodica, Glockenspiel and Percussion.
Oh, and he also adds a low-register celtic choir
voice too that is slightly reminiscent of some of
Alan Stivell’s work.
For want of being selsh, Mike’s talents prevent
anyone else from adding their two-cents, and
considering that he does have his own band, it is
puzzling why there are no special guests, like on
String Theory. Truth is he doesn’t need guests.
The music on the album seemed like a familiar
creature. There were several music cues that I
recognised as being possible inuences and nods
to other folk performers from Lau, Spires and
Boden, Seth Lakeman (notably the Kitty Jay-like
fenetic ddling on the track “Hallan”) and Show Of
Hands. I bring the latter up as Decemberwell most
closely resembles the duo’s 2003 instrumentalonly
album, The Path, itself a themed-album.
Mike’s guitar and ddle work seems to echo that
of Phil Beer or Paul Downes, at various points of
the album.
As I hinted in the intro to this review this is an
album for those quiet nights in when you just want
to sit, relax and reect on life. The album itself is
very reective, melancholic but beautifully so,
and while some may prefer something a little
more lively to tap along to, this remains a ne
album for meditation.
Martyn Cornelius
For more information visit: mikevass.com/ or
www.myspace.com/mikevass
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