Songlines

Stömp: 'I Claim My Five Pounds' (Osmosys CD034)

Stömp is the perfect name for this ceilidh band. Their staple is English dance music with its lively yet lollopy rhythm, exemplified by a couple of lovely tunes they call 'Scan Tester's' because they can't remember their titles. Their own compositions also tend to be, as the sleeve note says of Andrew King's song 'You Are Lobby Lud', 'as English as tuppence'.

But note the umlaut. Yes, it distinguishes them from those people dancing with bin lids from Broadway to Brisbane, but it is also suggestive of Europe, particularly Scandinavia. And I Claim My Five Pounds opens with 'Mockfjärd' a walking melody from Sweden, followed closely by 'Polskas', then a tune from Maurizio Martinotti. They include 'La Chapka', a beautiful waltz 'ripped off', they say from Le Gop, but that French combo should be chuffed by the compliment this delightful version pays them. Stömp's ears are wide open.

There are five musicians, but they all play several instruments, so their music is richly various and textured. But the Stömp sound is distinguished by Sheena Masson's English concertina, marvellously chirpy and plaintive, offsetting Kevin Adams' violin and precise mandolin. Martin Appleby's bass is melodically as well as rhythmically assertive, and Rob Gifford's drums and Andrew King's guitars drive things along with vigour. Sadly the songs can't quite match the tunes; happily there are only a couple. Martin Appleby, who recorded and mixed it, is one of BBC Radio 3's most sought after engineers, so I Claim My Five Pounds sounds great.

Julian May
http://www.songlines.co.uk/