Andrew Rumsey – Collodion

Gare Du Nord

Having notably contributed to the three-voice mix on Ghostwriter’s still-tremendous Tremulant LP, released last year, Andrew Rumsey returns to expand upon his slenderly proportioned solo canon, once again via the borderless label enterprise that is Gare du Nord Records.

With his 2023 debut, Evensongs, having rightly been hailed for its modern but ageless psych-folk magnetism — by Mark Radcliffe, Shindig! and the Guardian alike — expectations are set quite high for this sequel set. Whilst the nine-song Collodion possibly doesn’t quite possess the same out-of-the-blue awe of its old-as-new prequel, this is still a sublime twenty-minute offering in its own right.

Recorded, as with its predecessor, in a single day at Wiltshire’s Rushall Church, under the technical stewardship of engineer Katie May, with subtle support from David Perry (guitar / organ) and Cameron Saint (double-bass), the stark yet reassuring arrangements frame the core configuration of Rumsey’s voice, acoustic guitar and songs with rich but never over-polished clarity. With his tones blending those of labelmate Keiron Phelan and a young Bert Jansch, Rumsey sits within and slightly apart from a formidable bucolic lineage. This allows the nine short pieces to unfurl with arcadian freshness and as well as scholarly backwards glances.

Respectively beginning and ending with the spellbinding drone-tinged twosome of “Eunice Winds” and the title track, the album shifts sagely and beautifully through the scenes in-between. Thus, we are moved through the lilting yet mournful (“The Memorial Service Orders Of Friends”); the delicate but earthy (“Instead Of A Heart”); the loose and wandering (“Iron Acton”); the interluding of spoken-word poetics (“Mattins”); the twangy as well as foreboding (“Hooded Crow”); the hushed-to-hymnal (“Twice Is Apology”); and the blurred edges of Americana and British pastoralism (“Pulling On A Thread”).

With such a short running time, Collodion inevitably leaves you wanting more. However, as it masterfully encourages and stands up to many successive spins, this is a healthily addictive state of affairs. A quiet triumph of a record, in short.

-Adrian-