Twelfth Day

Now there’s a provocative title from these two young Scottish lasses. But lest you think that the exceptional musicianship on display on The Devil Makes Three is the result of some dread filled female version of the Faustian pact or Robert Johnson’s crossroads encounter. It’s worth noting that Catriona Price and Esther Swift have already established themselves as two of the best, most adventurous and interesting young players on the current Scottish scene but have the track record and history of hard work to assuage any fanciful fears of devilish dealings. Besides which, they sing and play like angels.

Although they hail from different ends of Scotland the pair first came into each other’s orbit when Orcadian Catriona left home at the age of seventeen to complete her final two years schooling at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. Esther was already enrolled, having arrived from her Borders home in Peebles. Both had clearly excelled, having started making music at a young age. In fact Catriona started on the piano at 6 and took up the fiddle a year later. Almost inevitably much of her growing up was done in the thriving Orkney sessions and as a member of young fiddle group Hadhirgaan under the watchful tutelage of the renowned Douglas Montgomery.

Esther had an equally early start taking up violin and piano when she was 5, later joining the self same St Mary’s Music School as a chorister. After being utterly enchanted by a concert performance by Borders harpist Savourna Stevenson, she made the clarsach her instrument of choice. It took a few years of physical growth before Esther was able to adapt to the full sized pedal harp. As well as her schooling Esther also benefited from additional lessons from Catriona McKay, one of Scotland’s most ground breaking harpists and an obviously inspiring role model.

During their school years, both were involved in the orchestral scene, whilst always continuing to nourish their folk roots, and the disciplines play their equal part here. Catriona and Esther were members of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and Camerata Scotland. Catriona also became a leading player in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, performing at the BBC Proms on live TV, as well as becoming principal second violin with the NYO’s contemporary music ensemble the NYO Sinfonietta. Simultaneously, she was always involved in the folk scene, and in 2005 toured Germany with the Irish band Blue.

It was a year after the Irish tour, with the two of them now studying at the Royal Northern College Of Music and also sharing a flat, that Catriona and Esther joined forces as Twelfth Day. They finally released their debut album Northern Quarter in 2010. It was followed by a collaboration with Gaelic singer Joy Dunlop called Fiere (read the FRUK review here), which was based around the work of female Scottish poets. Their next CD was even more adventurous and the Speak From The Start EP, released last year, contained cover versions of the Morrissey song You’re The One For Me Fatty originally commissioned by BBC Radio Manchester, alongside songs from Blondie, Kanye West, Passion Pit and Twin Atlantic. Not your standard harp-fiddle duo fare by any means then.

All of this naturally enough feeds into The Devil Makes Three although Noise Show, the opening track, throws up another little surprise as they take the opening of the song a cappella, pushing the harmonic possibilities of the melody with the delightful blend of their voices. The song itself is a clever allegory for the changing face of the world and way that nature is inevitably subsumed by human activity, in this case particularly the birdsong and wilderness of Scotland. The layering of musical textures builds the intensity steadily and you are struck by the dramatic power of Esther’s harp, especially at the bottom end, as the strings are left to ring into the mix. Combined with Catriona’s expressive fiddle and the clever use of their interweaving voices to raise the tension, the song spirals ever upwards towards an electrifying conclusion.

Magic Circle returns us to calmer territory, with its plucked fiddle, harp and yet more gorgeous harmony singing, although this is another strikingly original composition. This time the piece is inspired by a painting of the same title by Alan Davie and the free-form association of words and phrases that popped into Catriona’s head as she sat and studied it for a while. Editing all of the notes down, the result captures the way that the mind is rarely still and wanders where it will, in a fragmentary and slightly surreal flood of fleeting detail.

The first of three beautiful instrumentals, Me And My Friend, follows. It starts with a wistful air and once more you marvel at the textures that the two can create with their instruments. Naturally enough the friends in question are Catriona and Esther and again the tune rises and falls, creating a genuine sense of the bond between them. There are some unusual harmonies between the harp and fiddle, once more pushing at the limits of the melody in an exciting and enticing way. In some ways, Swimming Safe explores similar territory in concept at least, this time valuing the support of family and friends. The final instrumental piece, Beaches, has a sense of nostalgia for childhood past and time spent around Scotland’s coastal resorts.

Although all three have a chamber music elegance in their virtuosity, they retain a folkish and also a distinctly Scottish feel, especially with the lead from Catriona’s fiddle’s. It’s the versatility of Esther’s harp, however, that opens the harmonic and rhythmic options that the girls have at their finger tips.

Those options are matched by the quality of the writing too, with great tunes and intriguing if not always obvious lyrical themes. Young Sir, however has a straightforward narrative thread and updates the folk tropes of a young maid falling for a rich man, as it ends with her nicking his posh car. The rest are somewhat more oblique with Shapeshifter being about the legend of the Selkie, a man by day and a seal by night. A City You Can See Out Of, is a great title and a song about strength in the face of adversity, although Catriona and Esther have been inspired particularly by the stories of women and Edinburgh in this case. Dusking is also inspired by that city, emerging from the long dark winter nights and into spring.

The title track is the one dip into the tradition, but here it’s an American song, more commonly known as Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby. It’s also the longest track on the album, but largely on account of the tune welded onto the end which features Esther using her clarsach as a makeshift percussion set sampled in the studio. It’s the expansive treatment of what is a slightly unsettling nursery rhyme that shows the strength of Twelfth Day, as again they bring several moods to bear, from a tender opening through a mounting tension into something more playful and finally a tightly coiled climax.

In some ways that song is the micro view of what The Devil Makes Three achieves as it plays through. The shifts in rhythm and focus, the glorious interplay between fiddle and harp that stretch the harmonic possibilities of the tunes, with Catriona and Esther singing clear above it all, adding yet more euphonic layers to the music. There’s also the constantly shifting moods and way that the track sets up what follows, as the end of the record through Beaches and into Dusking is just beautiful and serene. But like all of the best records it takes time to unlock the complexity of the contents and adjust to the ebb and flow of the music as it stirs and soothes by turn. Surrender to its charms you must, however, as it would be a sin not to.

Review by: Simon Holland - Folk Radio UK

Catriona Price is a singer and fiddler from Orkney, and Esther Swift is a singer from the Scottish Borders who plays the pedal harp and clarsach celtic harp; the duo started working together after meeting at music college. As Twelfth Day, they have created an atmospheric, eerie style in which their fine, almost deadpan harmony vocals are matched against their subtle and delicate playing to gently unnerving effect. They start with a song about noise pollution, which begins with gentle, a cappella vocals reflecting the tranquility of the remote areas of Scotland where they were born, before the harp and fiddle join in. Elsewhere, there are moody instrumentals and stories from Scotland, often using the repeated phrases of systems music. Most of the songs are original, but they are at their best with the title track, an impressively spooky re-working of the American folk song Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby. - The Guardian

TWELFTH
 DAY
 are
 Catriona
 Price
 (fiddle
 and
 vocals)
 and
 Esther
 Swift
 (pedal
 harp,
 clarsach
 and
 vocals).
 The
 songs
 here
 are
 all
 originals
 except
 for
 one.
 Together
 they
 produce
 gorgeous
 harmony
 singing
 interwoven
 with
 brilliantly
 conceived
 and
 executed
 musical
 support.
 The
 sound
 is
 delicate,
 haunting
 and
 engaging,
 strong
and
forward
thinking,
with
a
musical
passion
at
its
core.



Catriona
 was
 born
 in
 Orkney
 and
 Esther
 in
 Peebles
 (Scottish
 Borders)
 and
 both
 began
 making
 music
 as
 young
 children.
Catriona
started
on
the
piano
at 
6
and 
took
 up 
the 
fiddle
 a 
year
 later.
 She 
grew
 up 
in 
Orkney
sessions
 and
 as
 a
 member
 of
 young
 fiddle
 group
 “Hadhirgaan”
 under
 tutorage
 and
 guidance
 of
 Douglas
 Montgomery
 (The
 Chair,
 Saltfishforty).
 Esther
 started
 violin
 and
 piano
 when
 she
 was
 5
 before
 joining
 St
 Mary's
 Music
 School
 as
 a
 chorister.
 She
 started
 the
 clarsach
 after
 seeing
 Borders
 harpist
 Savourna
 Stevenson
 in
 concert
 and
 being
 instantly
 hooked.
 A
 few
 years 
later, 
after
 she'd 
grown 
a 
bit, 
she 
took 
up
the 
pedal 
harp 
as 
well.



At
 seventeen,
 Catriona
 came
 down
 to
 Edinburgh
 to
 complete
 her
 final
 two
 school
years
at
St
Mary’s
Music
School,
where
she
met
Esther
who
had
been
 studying
 there
 since
 she
 was
 a
 child.
 The
 girls
 both
 went
 on
 to
 study
 at
 the
 Royal
 Northern
 College
 of
 Music
 in
 Manchester
 where
 they
 started
 playing
 and
 writing
 music
 together
 whilst
 flat
 mates
 in
 first
 year.
 They
 have
 since
 released
 their
 début
 album
 Northern
 Quarter
 (2010),
 a
 collaborative
 album
 with
Gaelic
singer
Joy
Dunlop
called
Fiere
(2012),
and
an
EP
of
cover
versions
 Speak
 From
 The
 Start
 (2013).
 Their
 new
 album
 The
 Devil
 Makes
 Three
 is
 due
 for
release
on
9
June
2014
and
disbributed
in
the
UK
by
Proper
Music.



In
 2012
 they
 won
 the
 Royal
 Academy
 of
 Music
 Deutsche
 Bank
 Award
 in
 Performance
 and
 Composition
 for
 their
 international
 folk
 music
 sharing

project
 Routes
 To
 Roots.
 The
 project
 sees
 Esther
 and
 Catriona
 travel
 to
 four
 different
 countries,
 each
 on
 a
 different
 continent,
 sharing
 folk
 music
 traditions
 with
 local
 musicians,
 and
 creating
 new
 music
 from
 their
 experiences
 and
 discoveries.
So
far
they
have
been
to
Quebec
in
Canada,
Malawi,
and
Brazil.
Next
year
they
head
to
Mongolia
where
 after
 they
 will
 bring
 musicians
 from
 each
 of
 the
 four
 countries
 to
 the
 UK
 to
 record
 and
 tour
 a
 big
 collaboration
 together,
 combining
 the
 rich
 traditional
 music
 of
 Quebec,
 Malawi,
 Brazil,
 Mongolia
 and
 Scotland
 together
 in
 an
 exciting
and
organic
way.





About
the
songs
 

Noise
Show


This
 song
 opens
 acapella,
 describing
 the
 serenity
 and
 silence
 of
 the
 remote
 areas
 of
 Scotland
 where
 we
 spent
 our
 childhoods.
Each
verse
grows
in
texture
and
energy,
reflecting
the
effects
of
our
busy
world’s
noise
pollution
on
birds
 and
nature.



Magic
Circles

Was
 inspired
 by
 a
 painting
 that
 hangs
 in
 Orkney’s
 Pier
 Arts
 Centre
 –
 Magic
 Circles
 by
 Alan
 Davie.
 We
 became
 interested
 in
 how
 painted
 art
 could
 be
 interpreted
 in
 song,
 so
 Catriona
 sat
 in
 front
 of
 the
 painting
 for
 a
 while
 one
 time
 she
 was
 home
 and
 wrote
 down
 all
 the
 words
 that
 sprung
 out
 whilst
 looking
 at
 it.
 We
 then
 got
 together,
 condensed
 these
 notes,
 put
 them
 to
 music,
 and
 a
 crazy
 song
 about
 the
 contradictions
 and
 abstractness
 of
 dreams
 was born.


Me
 And 
My 
Friend

This
 instrumental
 represents
 both
 the
 tenderness
 and
 the
 excitable
 sides
 of
 our
 music
 and
 our
 combined
 personalities,
 which
 was
 what
 brought
 us
 together
 as
 friends
 and
 as
 musicians.
As
 we
 have
 grown
 closer
 and
 experienced
so
much
together,
so
our
music
has
developed
and
changed
through
the
years.
This
track
represents
the
 strength
we
share
and
the
channeling
of
our
combined
energies
to
face
anything
that
comes
our
way.



Young
 Sir

A
 song
 about
 a
 young
 lady
 who
 can’t
 afford
 her
 rent
 so
 runs
 away
 across
 the
 border
 to
 England.
 On
 her
 way
 she
 meets
a
nice
rich
young
man
who
falls
madly
in
love
with
her
so
she
snaps
up
the
opportunity
and
lets
him
drive
her
 off
into
the
sunset.
On
getting
to
Carlisle,
she
agrees
to
stay
with
him,
but
then
runs
away
back
to
Scotland
taking
his
 fancy
car
with
her!



A
 City 
You
 Can 
See 
Out 
Of

A
 song
 about
 strength
 in
 lost
 love.
 The
 song
 tells
 of
 three
 different
 women
 whose
 strength
 we
 admired
 after
 suffering
devastating
loss.
Edinburgh
is
the
backdrop
for
their
stories.



Swimming
 Safe

A
 tune
 about
 the
 feeling
 of
 safety,
 even
 when
 you're
 not
 very
 sure
 where
 you
 are:
 the
 feeling
 of
 gratefulness
 for
 friends
and
family.



Shapeshifter

This
 song
 tells
 of
 a
 woman
 falling
 in
 love
 with
 a
 Selkie
 man
 and
 her
 journey
 to
 joining
 him
 in
 the
 sea.
 Selkies
 are
 mythical
creatures
that
appear
in
the
folklore
of
Scotland,
Ireland
and
the
Faroe
Isles.




The 
Devil 
Makes 
Three

The
album’s
title
track
grew
out
of
the
traditional
American
song
“Didn’t
Leave
Nobody
But
The
Baby”.
We
adapted
 the
song,
which
then
develops
into
a
lively
instrumental
featuring
a
“clarsach
drum
kit”
we
sampled
in
the
studio.




The
 Beach


An
 instrumental
 inspired
 by
 the
 many
 beaches
 we
 grew
 up
 on,
 in
 particular
 the
 beaches
 of
 the
 Isle
 of
 Mull
 where
 Esther
spent
much
time
as
a
child,
and
Rackwick
Beach
in
Hoy,
Orkney,
which
we
always
visit
when
we
have
a
gig
on
 the
island.



Dusking

A
 song
 inspired
 by
 Edinburgh's
 spring
 evenings.
 The
 relief
 of
 a
 long
 light
 evening
 after
 a
 long
 dark
 winter,
 in
 which

Edinburgh
feels
more
at
peace
with
itself,
as
if
it
is
breathing
a
long
sigh
of
relief.


 
 
 -