The Fiddle Chicks

2007 LP Out the Window, Over the Gate

Reviewed by Stu Wright

16 May 2008

What started as a musical “experiment” for Kim Perry, Dee Trewartha and Emma Luker - to arrange tunes and songs with just three fiddles and vocals (and shed their “bands”), has resulted in The Fiddle Chicks' creation of ‘Out the Window, Over the Gate' - an Eclectic collection of Original, Cover and Traditional Material, all performed on fiddles and with minimal additional instrumentation.

Track 1, ‘Cold Mountain’, is a beautiful song; with tasteful use of traditional highland structures and subtle backing instrumentation, with Dee providing haunting vocals and insightful lyrics to life, spirituality and experiences out of the Metropolis. ‘Katz’ is a great little number, reminiscent in feel to the seminal ‘Fever’, with excellent finger-picked fiddle and fiddle bass, with clicks providing the sleazy groove for this song to really strut. As one would expect of musicians of this capability, the playing is exceptionally tight, and the fingers really start to let loose on ‘What Am I Doing Here?’, with Emma playing some exceptional lead fiddle and showing off her chops nicely, and is a touching little instrumental written ‘in a moment of frustration’.

‘Water to Wine’ again showcases Dees tasteful and fitting voice for this style of folk arrangement, and throughout this recording she is aptly supported with soothing vocal harmonies from Emma and Kim. ‘Chocolate Ice-Cream’ has been borrowed from the Soursob Bob album ‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’, and as with ‘Katz’ the girls provide just the right amount of swagger to keep the tune grooving. ‘The Chick Sisters’ are credited with backing vocals on this tune, and perfectly executed they are. Again, one must draw reference to Emma’s exceptional lead fiddle work – she really shreds (to use a guitarist’s lingo), and listeners will definitely appreciate why she has won ‘Most Outstanding Instrumentalist’ for two years running at the SA Folk Music Awards.

Next, the Fiddle Chicks serve up some traditional offerings; the first ‘Adana Oro’ being a traditional tune from Turkey, and this cut has a very tasty Middle Eastern feel that is skillfully executed with great feel and expression. ‘Morris Set - Princess Royal / The Cuckoo’s Nest’ come from the English Folk tradition of Morris Dancing, and will surely excite purveyors of this style of Folk Dance. Track 12 ‘Maid on the Shore / Tam Lin’ is a combination of a Traditional French Celtic song about a young woman’s revenge for her parent’s death (by their own admission, the girls love female hero folk stories!), with Tam Lin being a Traditional Scottish tune, and is also the name of an EPIC song which Dee has been known to sing at times…

Two other original compositions on this album, ‘Heroes’ and ‘The Rainbow Sarong’ are written in the traditional Celtic vein, with tasteful arrangements for both tunes. The use of Wah-Wah fiddle on ‘The Rainbow Sarong’ brought a smile to my face and shows again the girl’s willingness to experiment away from the ‘Traditional’ box. I love the way the girls play and interpret, it’s great to know that we have Folk Music of this quality living, breathing and being recorded in Adelaide!

All in all I found this to be a very soothing and relaxing listen, and would definitely recommend it not only to Folk fans, but to anyone that would like to relax and be taken to other lands and times, if only to escape the city for a moment...

for more information

The Fiddle Chicks