On Saturday, I visited the West Midlands Folk Lounge. I generally feel uneasy with any kind of generic approach to - well, anything. I can't like or dislike music on the basis of what label it has. 'Folk' seems the most nebulous genre, with the possible exception of 'indie' and of course the sub-genre from Hell, 'indie folk'. What I find most upsetting about the whole thing is that I played in an acoustic duo in the late 90s, that I jokingly described as 'indie folk' because I couldn't think of a better description. As self-delusions go, 'I could've been a contender' is one of the more ridiculous, but knowing discovering fifteen years after the event that you might have been in the forefront of something moderately interesting is rather galling.
Enough of my middle-aged frustrations. The most interesting of last Saturday's act were Jenny Went Away. The three band members sing in various combinations and play guitar, violin, cajon and ukulele. They look and sound like 'indie folk' might have done had it been around in the 1940s. They lack the technique to be totally convincing, but that is easily remedied.
The most affecting were Driftwood Store, or rather a combination of Driftwood Store and The Mistakings - there is some overlap between the two group and Saturday's lineup contained members of both. Again, there were three singers, arranging vocal harmonies in various combinations. They also had a violin and one guitar, shared between two guitarists. The vocals are ethereal and shockingly beautiful; the guitar was rudimentary, but none the worse for it.
What both acts share is a willingness to move away from the tired drums/bass/rhythm/lead/vocal formula that has dominated music for about a million years. Did I enjoy the evening? Apart from the unpleasant envy I felt at realising some of these musicians are young enough to be my children, yes.
