Pagoda Project - Eddies

Pagoda Project is Paul Hutchinson (accordion), Karen Wimhurst (clarinet and vocals), and Hannah Cumming (fiddle, viola, and vocals), a new acoustic trio blending traditional and folk melodies with modern elements. Their debut album Eddies is a fascinating, at times surprising, collection of mainly original tunes with a few songs in the mix.

True to its title, the album is a release defined by circular structures, swirling tempos, and the unexpected pooling of different traditions. Hutchinson’s accordion provides the rhythmic heartbeat of the record, but, as evident on the title track or Time for Change, it is his ability to inject subtle, jazz-tinted chords into traditional frameworks that gives Eddies its unique contemporary edge.

Wimhurst’s clarinet is the really surprising factor in the overall sound. Her improvised passages provide bright sparks in the more light-hearted moments. See the trio’s rendition of Still the Land Remains, an old classic here presented in a fresh and atmospheric arrangement, as proof of the band’s ability to effortlessly blend the pastoral and the avant-garde.

The opening title track is possibly the one that best epitomises the trio’s voice, together with the closing, Klezmer-influenced Promised Land. It begins with a deceptively simple melancholic air before expanding into a rich layered tapestry where clarinet and accordion dance around Cumming’s soaring fiddle lines; a perfect blend of traditional, folk, jazz, classical, and cinematic music.

Eddies sounds, at the same time, like an intricately engineered piece of embroidery and a spontaneous, intimate dialogue; that is the reason why it can be considered one of the most interesting albums published in recent years.