CATRIN FINCH
Notes To Self (Bendigedig)
The concept behind this delicate album of self-penned pieces by Welsh harpist Catrin Finch is a beautiful one. Each composition is a letter to the 13-year-old Katy – Catrin herself – as Finch muses on the beginnings, and developments, of her four-decade career.
Finch uses her harp to weave her wordless music across the 11 tracks, with every inch of the instrument manipulated to tell her story. Rhythms are beaten out on the body, loops created through gentle harmonics, melodies spring from the upper register while chords and bass lines boom from the low end.
That Finch is an international master of the instrument is well beyond question. What is of interest is how she approaches composition a decade after her last self-written release. The opening numbers rely a little too much on the self-generated loops, but when Clear Sky (acoustic) arrives in all its simple, unadorned, melodic glory, you can hear the sun breaking from behind the clouds of her early years. The story is in the music.
words JOHN-PAUL DAVIES
