The Fragile (O'Hooley & Tidow album)

The Fragile
Studio album by O'Hooley & Tidow
Released 9  February 2012 (UK)
Recorded Golcar, Huddersfield[1]
Genre Folk; chamber folk
Label No Masters
O'Hooley & Tidow chronology

Silent June (2010) The Fragile (2012) The Hum (2014)

The Fragile, the second album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 9 February 2012 on the No Masters label. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian. The album's title is derived from the words of one of its songs, "Mein Deern", about the dying hours of Heidi Tidow's German grandmother.[1] The album features guest performances by Andy Cutting, Jackie Oates, Jude Abbott, Cormac Byrne, Anna Esslemont, Sam Pegg, The Solo Players and London's Diversity Choir.

Theme and songs

According to O'Hooley & Tidow, all the songs on The Fragile are linked by the common theme of vulnerability.[1] Speaking to Dave Freak of the Nottingham Post,[2] Heidi Tidow said: "The Fragile has been completely co-written by me and Belinda whereas the previous album was 50 per cent Belinda's back catalogue and 50 per cent new stuff, so there's a coherence, it sounds like a whole.. The song Mein Deern is about my grandmother, her dying hours and looking back on her life and wishing she'd been a performer. The opening line is 'The fragile hours pass quickly, as things once yearned for dissolve into dust.' Looking back at the song, that line just jumped out, so that's where The Fragile title comes from. The theme of fragility is in other songs – fragility in nature, fragility in humans, fragility in human nature..."

A single from the album, "The Last Polar Bear", was released in November 2011.[3] The track was reissued on 1 November 2012 as a double single with "Gentleman Jack".[4] This is a song, also from the album, about Anne Lister, an early 19th-century Yorkshire lesbian gentlewoman.[5]

The words of "Little Boy Blue" are from a poem by Eugene Field written in the 1800s. The poem, about a young boy and his toys, suggests that he dies and is taken by angels and his toys wait for him to return.[2]

Production

Mixed and mastered by Neil Ferguson of Chumbawamba, the album was recorded at Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow's home in Golcar in September and October 2011.

Reception

In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian described The Fragile as an "intriguing, ambitious set" and said that the album's cover version of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" was "an exquisite reworking".[6] Guardian music critic Jude Rogers voted it as one of the best tracks of 2012.[7]

Spiral Earth's reviewer said that The Fragile was an "incredibly moving, deep and finely nuanced album".[8]Northern Sky praised the album's "complex string arrangements and fine instrumental accompaniment" and "highly accomplished pieces of musical composition; you can never second guess what's around the corner in terms of sonic exploration".[9] Reviewing the album for Folking.com, Dai Jeffries said "The confidence, power and earthiness of their voices both solo and in harmony are what shine through this excellent album.[10] Folk Wales Online described the album as "breathtakingly original".[11]

Northern Sky music magazine's reviewer described the song "The Last Polar Bear" as "utterly beautiful", saying "This is how love songs should be written."[12]

Design

Boff Whalley designed the CD cover. The illustrations on the album cover are by Kate Aughey.[13] The photographs of O’Hooley & Tidow standing in the sea were taken by Casey Orr at Sandsend in Whitby.[14]

Track listing

  1. The Tallest Tree (4:34)
  2. The Last Polar Bear (3:25)
  3. Gentleman Jack (2:47)
  4. Teardrop (1:33)
  5. Little Boy Blue (4:27)
  6. Calling Me (5:52)
  7. Mein Deern (7:20)
  8. A Daytrip (4:15)
  9. Pass It On (3:14)
  10. She Lived Beside the Anner (4:17)
  11. Ronnie's Song (6:28)
  12. Madgie in the Summerlands (2:32)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "O' Hooley & Tidow interview". EFDSS News (English Folk Dance and Song Society). 19 April 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Feeling Fragile's strength". Nottingham Post. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "O’Hooley & Tidow – The Last Polar Bear". Missing Lesbians. 21 November 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  4. ↑ "Music and Performance: Interview with O'Hooley and Tidow". When Sally Met Sally. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  5. ↑ Elizabeth Mavor (4 February 1988). "Gentleman Jack from Halifax". London Review of Books, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp 18–19. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  6. ↑ Robin Denselow (2 February 2012). "O'Hooley & Tidow: The Fragile – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Jude Rogers and others (17 December 2012). "The best albums of 2012: our critics' individual choices". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Fragile – O'Hooley & Tidow". Spiral Earth. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  9. ↑ Allan Wilkinson (12 February 2012). "Album Review: O'Hooley & Tidow – The Fragile (No Masters)". Northern Sky. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  10. ↑ Dai Jeffries (17 January 2012). "O’HOOLEY & TIDOW – The Fragile – NO MASTERS NMCD39". Folking.com. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Mick Tems (September 2012). "CD Reviews". Folkwales Online Magazine. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  12. ↑ Allan Wilkinson (22 November 2011). "Single Review: O'Hooley & Tidow – The Last Polar Bear (Download)". Northern Sky. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  13. ↑ "More from the O'Hooley and Tidow Commission". Kate Aughey Illustrations. 10 January 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
  14. ↑ "The Fragile". O'Hooley & Tidow website. 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.

External links