Love & Stillness

Drummer Tom Bancroft is probably best known to Songlines readers through having worked with the Grit Orchestra, which brought the late Martyn Bennett's studio-produced electro-folk oeuvre to the concert platform. However, Bancroft has been a major presence on the Scottish music scene for some 30 years, working in jazz with his own orchestra and trio and collaborating with Sun Ra, with American pianist Geri Allen, and with Bennett himself.

Love & Stillness reflects Bancroft's eclectic interests, drawing together traditional Scottish elements, Indian music, quirky pop, jazz vocalese and improvisation in a relaxed production. Duets between drums and tabla, bodhrán and tabla, and guitar and violin sit between tracks featuring the full septet including a vocal trio.

Opening song ‘Somehow Something’ marries Macedonian and Indian flavours with a cheery tale of enduring love, and the traditional ballad ‘The Burnin O Auchindoun’ is rendered as a spookily harmonised street song. Guitarist Graeme Stephen and violinist Sharat Chandra Srivastava stretch out admirably on the second of three instalments of ‘Flower Child’ before ‘18’ ventures into hip-hop beats and loose jamming.