Alan Davidson (guitar, recorder, psaltery, vocals).
Alan also makes music as the Kitchen Cynics, who you can hear here, and is part of Mickel Mass, whose site resides here
Influences
We are influenced by older traditional music, as sung by people like Jeannie Robertson, Lizzie Higgins, John Strachan, Shirley Collins, Anne Briggs, Sam Larner, the Copper Family, the Watersons etc, and by more modern music such as the Famous Jug Band, John Fahey, COB, Vashti Bunyan, Meic Stevens, Roy Harper, Espers, Tape, Four Tet, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, P G Six, Faust etc
Matricarians create improvised musical pieces to which they later add traditional lyrics, from the folksongs of North East Scotland.
They have not as yet played live, but have just finished their first album, which you can download by visiting the Woven Wheat Whispers site here
Here's what the fine folks at Woven Wheat Whispers say about the music...
This duo consists of Alan Davidson from The Kitchen Cynics (guitar, psaltery, vocals) and Susan Matthew (piano, dulcimer, marimba). During Summer 2006 they recorded a series of improvised songs with words taken from traditional songs of north east Scotland. ‘Jock Sheep’ starts the album with arcane lyrics set over a slightly creepy echoing piano backing. ‘Drumallachie’ has a traditional sounding melody with plucked guitar ripples and pump organ. Alan sings in the warm, soft style known from The Kitchen Cynics. There is a freshness to the songs that is produced from the improvisations. Although improvised the songs aren’t rambling in any way and are structured with an intimate quality to them.
By merging traditional lyrics with new arrangements and melodies, the songs sit between the archaic and the modern. This gives them both a familiarity and a whimsical strangeness. This strangeness is further enhanced through the hazy psychedelia of such as ‘Bogie Banks’ where cosmic electronic pulses, echoing electric guitar and layered vocals combine to produce a song that sounds beguiling and odd. ‘The Frasburgh Meal Riot’ is more ominous with fuzzed guitar whereas ‘Ythanside’ has tinkling marimba and angular guitar chords. Then we come to the sublime ‘By Yon-Clear Rinnin’ Burnie’ that sounds like a hymn heard in the distance. By the final song ‘The nightingale’ we have reached the home fires of simple accordion and minimal guitar. This starts our as a stark traditional sounding song before layers of choral vocals and a huge cathedral like reverb join in as though Archie Fisher and Arvo Pärt were recording in the same chapel.
With this release Matricarians have produced some truly new music, rooted in song and familiar, yet often strange. You can’t help but be intrigued and we recommend giving it a listen now.
Matricarians
Matricarians
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As far as I can gather Matricarians is a side project of Alan Davidson and Susan Matthew - who, by their own admission started their music as improvisations on this collection. The lyrics on the other hand are in Doric, having been culled from traditional North East songs. It is a strangely enchanting and sometimes eerie combination - everything from pump organs, piano, fuzz guitars, marimbas and electronics are utilised over the course of this album. As a whole the collection exudes an almost dark atmosphere to it - tinkling marimbas on 'Ythanside' are dissected to good effect with what I think are guitars heavily laden with effects. Whatever the resulting sounds are they're unexpectedly industrial and repetitive. Perhaps the most conventional song, 'The Nightingale' is altogether more soothing - starting along the lines of a traditional folk song with guitar augmented by accordion, it ends with layers of lush voices carrying the song out. I have seen countless bands masturbating their instruments whilst conveniently sheltering beneath the umbrella of experimentation. This collection is, however - with the exception of the Doric lyrics - genuinely different to anything I have ever heard before. [JK]
