Seated at a grand piano awash in soft, golden light, Phil Alexander introduces himself and bandmates Mario Caribé and Greg Lawson to an audience seated luxuriously on sofas and beanbags in the Hub. The trio are showcasing their new album, a blend of tango, jazz and European folk, and their first song, Alexander explains, is inspired by a poem about men no longer wearing hats.
Dreamy, glassy piano opens the piece, with Caribé’s double bass soon providing an earthy cushion. Lawson lunges about the stage as his searing fiddle becomes more severe, thinning to a hair’s breadth on the high notes. For a tune about hats, it’s certainly got a lot of drama.
Each piece of the evening has a story behind it. There’s tunes about loved ones, like the jubilant rumba about Caribé’s grandmother, or the gorgeous, loving ode to Alexander’s childhood spaniel. There’s pieces inspired by mundanities (the flatness of Lincolnshire) and snapshot moments (a father and child flying a kite). Fragile, prickly piano and slippery violin glissandos jostle about in the playful, jumpy ‘The Sea Urchin’s Embrace’, a tune about Alexander’s and Caribé’s sometimes spiky friendship.
As well as a rapturous, virtuosic exploration of global folk music, Triptic is also a reminder of the universal feelings and singular moments that move people to create music in the first place.
Triptic, The Hub, 11 Aug, 8pm