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Rainbow Chasers - Fortune Never Sleeps     

Talking Elephant TECD100



This is the second album from the Rainbow Chasers. While the Guv'nor still leads the
band, Ashley Hutchings' name has been dropped from the quartet's title, thus asserting a
new independence for the talented young musicians who work with the Great Alchemist. The
cover gives a clue to the content, depicting the band in a tastefully furnished room
full of books, paintings, photographs and a globe, many of which have some reference to
the lyrics of the songs contained within. It is a room in which age meets youth in a
context of learning. Experience links with experiment. And that is what the Rainbow
Chasers are about.



In Britta Sweers' book Electric Folk, there is a criticism that Ashley has forced his
music into a bass-and-drums stereotype from which it has never been able to escape.
Wrong! Firstly, this album is the product of four able and intelligent musicians, some
of them classically trained, and drums and percussion make their appearance on only one
track. Secondly, this isn't 'electric folk', even though it will inevitably get filed
under 'Folk' in all the Virgin and HMV megastores. While it has 'folk' influences, it
paints far too broad a musical canvas to be labelled thus, with all the
finger-in-the-ear associations that the term still bears for those on the outside of
that particular musical world.



Vaughan Williams noted that solo melody, rather than harmony, is a characteristic of
English folk music, and that immediately excludes this album from that category. Harmony
is one of the great strengths of these musicians and this work is dependent on
harmonious voices rising in power to emphasise their point in refrains and middle
eights. One track is pure a capella. Throughout, Marc Hutchinson's clear, light voice
joins with the purity of Ruth Angell's soft delivery and the jazzy richness of Jo
Hamilton's deeper tones, the whole laid over the baritone foundations of Ashley's
distinctive 'Tyger' growl.



This is an album of influences rather than labels. The opening track, Looking for a
change, penned by Jo Hamilton, begins with a Joni Mitchell-esque guitar (Blue period)
and rocks along in a cheerful way that emphasises the hope of the subject to change his
way of life. As with other Hutchings & Co. productions there are references to history,
culture and literature. This one even has footnotes! History comes in the form of
Stanley's Wake. Led by Marc, this is a sad waltzing lament for a farm-worker and a way
of rural life now vanished forever. Now 'Billhook, hedging tools and rake.Decorate the
tavern walls, Bought to give a rustic touch.' Real rurality has been exchanged for
ersatz country chic, experience for image.



Ruth's Surrounded by Strangers is a slow an wistful reflection on the loneliness of the
touring musician, who, while welcomed everywhere, is still separated from her love,
whose presence thus feels all the stronger. Next, it's Jo's turn with A Far-off  Bay,
with Frank Moon's oud and bouzouki lending an almost Mediterranean feel to the pulsing
tune.





Literature gets an outing as Ashley reads an extract from Louis MacNeice's Autumn
Journal in that subtle way of his that manages to bring out the meaning from poets
sometimes thought of as 'difficult'. Deep-toned strings emphasise the intensity of
feeling. Ashley's sensitivity and intonation make one wish for an album of nothing but
poetry from Himself, down all the ages of English literature, in the manner that he
essayed on A Word In Your Ear. And so to film. If you don't get the reference to Louise
Brooks on Marc's gentle There Isn't Any More To Say, then gaze at the ghostly image
behind the lyrics in the inlay-booklet, and glimpse the face of the world's most
beautiful film star. (If that isn't enough, then go out and buy the DVD of Pandora's Box
and marvel at what could be achieved in silent acting.).



Given the instrumental talent in this band, it is highly appropriate that there should
be an opportunity for us to hear a demonstration of their capabilities. It comes in the
form of an experimental theme entitled The Lost Bagpipe, a piece that features not only
Ruth and Jo on violin and viola, but also Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie. This extended,
pulsating drone seems to take one to the Highlands and the islands on wings of Celtic
melody. If you heard this re-created live at Cropredy, then count yourself among the
blessed and the fortunate. Play at least twice!



Jo's Think of Me is what might be considered 'folk' were it not for the jazzy, almost
Swingle-like harmonies that conclude this number, a slow solo voice-and-guitar song on
which Jo almost whispers the praises of the natural beauties of Scotland (the singer is
half-Scottish). In contrast, Better Be Smart is an up-tempo, syncopated warning from
Marc on the dangers of everything from scrumping to falling in love. There's even some
social comment in here on the dangers that lurk round the corner in our violent society.



The Trunk Beneath The Bed, sung by Ruth, has shades of nursery rhymes, songs from
Cabaret and Eleanor Rigby, if that's not  too difficult a blend to imagine! The emotions
of separating and returning lovers are held up to examination, before being locked away
in the eponymous trunk. Then comes The River's Tale. Sung a capella, it flows like a
stream, the higher voices rippling over the undercurrent of Ashley's baritone, the
voices blending on a philosophical reflection on the very nature of existence. So rich
are the voices that it sounds as if there are instruments somewhere in the mix.



Nik Kershaw's Billy is perhaps the most striking song on the album, a rocking,
no-holds-barred discussion of the difficulties relating to gender-roles encountered by
today's young men and women. The dilemmas of the two-sided Billy, and those of the
demanding Sally, are backed with some forceful instrumentation which includes Marc's
mandolin and some subtle percussion from Guy Fletcher. To close the album comes Fortune
Never Sleeps, in which Jo muses on the role that chance plays in our lives. A rich
string arrangement soars over the melody and the sweetly pulsing bass.



This is a gentle, thoughtful and reflective album with a spicing of social and political
comment. The Rainbow Chasers are moving on, defining a newer, broader field in which to
work. Just as practitioners of ceremonial magic like the spelling 'Magick' to
distinguish it from conjuring, let's distinguish this new field and return to an older
spelling. Let's call it 'Musicke'.


Ian Maun

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"Ashley Hutchings continues his role as one of British music's greatest facilitators with his latest project.

In working with three young musicians-Mark Hutchinson, Ruth Angell and Jo Hamilton- Ashley Hutchings has provided an excellent snapshot of British folk music in the early day's of the 21st century.

Angell's 'Surrounded by Strangers', a touching ballad with a pretty flugelhorn solo, is superb!, while 'Stanley's Wake' is a look at the perilous state of the British farming industry, as it's tools are sold as rustic memorabilia to put on pub walls. It's a very modern spin on the traditional folk song staple of crop failure.

With a high quality threshold across these 13 tracks, 'Fortune Never Sleeps' comes as a very unexpected pleasure indeed."


Daryl Easlea, MOJO Magazine May 2007

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