Sam Sweeney & Louis Campbell - Shapes (2023) Hi-Res

Joined by Louis Campbell on electric guitar, fiddler Sam Sweeney returns with a thoroughly affecting and striking EP that soothes the soul and demonstrates just what a rich talent these remarkable musicians are.

Beginning with 2022’s EP Solo, Shapes is the second in a new series of EPs Sweeney has in the pipeline. In contrast to the earlier EP, however, Sweeney enlists the electric guitar of friend and Sweeny band member Louis Campbell. The pair have known each other for several years, and the joy and sheer thrill of duetting is palpably felt.

Written at Sam’s home in April 2022 and recorded in the remarkably atmospheric octagonal nave of St Martin’s Church, Stoney Middleton, on 11 May 2022, Shapes is a glorious reflection on tradition with some touching guitar work from Campbell. Mention should be made of the superb talents of Hudson Records producer Andy Bell, who ensures a warm and intimate sound throughout.

With six tracks and running at a sprightly twenty-one minutes, Shapes follows Sweeney’s composing method, which he first explored on the 2020 album Unearth Repeat, where he has taken 18th-century manuscripts, broken the tunes down to the general melodic shapes (hence the EP’s title) and then rebuilt with new rhythms, time and key signatures. The resulting arrangements are left raw, leaving each tune room to breathe during the recording sessions – ensuring an exciting, organic listening experience. What remains is almost an album of ghosts – of tunes half-remembered. A fleeting selection of tunes which touchingly echo from the past.

To ensure further meditation, each track has an abstract title, identifying its running order only by number and a key signature. This encourages the listener to reflect further on each tune and its meaning and association. There is recognition from each tune here, but Sweeney and Campbell encourage creating new associations.

Track one is ‘Shape #1 (D)’, a tender, tentatively bittersweet hint of a long-finished dance. Campbell’s soft, light accompaniment provides a soothing background to Sweeney’s bright, melodic play. ‘Shape #2 (Gmin)’ follows with a similarly contemplative tune. Opening with Campbell’s moody guitar, Sweeney’s fiddle softly emerges and provides a sweeping, elating melody.

‘Shape #3 (E)’ is, in some ways, a brighter and more playful tune. Fiddle and electric guitar dance around each other in delicate play. It’s a handsomely subtle little duet. Similarly, ‘Shape #5 (A)’ is a happy, heartfelt, and emotive dance, whilst ‘Shape #4 (G)’ opens with a more rigid formal time structure but soon softens into a frailer and more whispered duet. Mid-point in the EP is the only track without ‘shape’ as a title. ‘Psalm’, with its nod to the spiritual and no doubt inspired by the recording location, is a timeless and somewhat ethereal tune, Campbell’s guitar providing beautifully subtle touch points for Sweeney’s sweeping fiddle.

There is something inherently uplifting about Sweeney’s fiddle playing – it soothes, replenishes, and heartens the soul. Add in Campbell’s electric guitar, and Shapes proves a stunning listening experience – fiddle and electric guitar have rarely sounded so breath-taking. Sweeny and Campbell are masters of their game. Haunting and strangely poignant throughout, how Sweeney and Campbell manage to stir such feelings and emotions from their playing is a sure sign of their talent. Allow yourself time to savour Shapes, and you will be richly rewarded.