Culture

Prospect recommends: the Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble

November 27, 2009
article header image

While a member of Blur, multi-instrumentalist Graham Coxon released four solo albums, mixing garage rock, folk and heavy riffs with the band’s trademark power pop. Since his departure from Blur in 2002, Coxon has made three more records. The latest is grounded in a passion for English folk music, heavily influenced by Bert Jansch, and widely regarded as his best to date.

Recorded on analogue equipment and featuring more than its fair share of detuned acoustic instruments, The Spinning Top picks and strums its way through one man’s journey from birth to death, a mythological tale of love, loss and autobiographical intrigue. Aided by unsung folk heroes Robyn Hitchcock and Danny Thompson (who played double bass on Nick Drake’s records), Coxon pursues the crooked, flawed beauty which folk music is so good at containing, capturing it through a careful use of loose rhythms and wavering vocals.

This Barbican show, which presents the album in full, will feature revered folk veteran Martin Carthy, as well as renditions of some of the folk songs which have influenced Coxon over the years. Also appearing in this festive get together are soprano Natasha Marsh and sound artist Max Eastley

The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble Barbican Hall, 28th November, Tel: 020 7638 8891, www.barbican.org.uk

This article first appeared in the December edition of Prospect magazine