Inti Rowland (facebook/bandcamp) caught my attention during an afternoon spent exploring Soundcloud a couple of months ago. A few clicks took me to his website, where I found a video of him singing his song ‘Eyes of a Starling’, unaccompanied, perched on the edge of a bath, sounding haunting and magnificent. It is that song which gives its name to, and opens Inti’s excellent new 6 track Ep, a delightful, folk-inflected record which stands out from the glut of twinkly, indistinct, acoustic music that seems, albeit gently, to assail one these days.
Inti’s voice has a kind of choir-boy purity to it, yet isn’t lacking in emotional texture, his guitar-playing is bright and subtle, and his song writing is sophisticated, particularly in terms of structure: the timing is beautifully measured, and there are plenty of well-judged pauses and spaces. For all but two of the songs he is joined by cellist Sam Rowe and violinist Megan Jenkins, both of whose thoughtful playing greatly enriches the record. They sing on it, too.
A new, fuller version of ‘Eyes of a Starling’, starts proceedings. Beautiful though it was in aforementioned, unadorned, “bath” form, the song is deepened by its treatment here. It bursts forth after a minute of rustling, somnolent instrumental music which seems to describe the forest setting in which the record was made (somewhere next to a mountain in Wales), and is all crescendos and peaks, interspersed with gentler moments that let Inti’s voice to shine through. Those more heavily orchestrated passages never sound congested, and the melodies and harmonies of the strings are unusual and don’t simply follow the main theme (this is true of the whole record, in fact). Megan’s occasional singing provides a neat counterpoint to Inti’s spare vocal style.
Megan sings with Inti throughout the second song, ‘Merchant Men at the Windows’, a simple, plaintive duet. It is, save the final, hidden song, the barest track on the Ep, sweetened by warm vocals that disguise the tenor of what’s being told. The following three tracks are more elaborate. ‘A Purse of Copper Coins’, passes through various transformations: its melancholy opening theme, wrought over by a weaving violin part, clears to reveal Inti singing alone with his liltingly-strummed guitar; the strings rejoin him and everything builds up for a cavernous-sounding middle that is, dare I say it, epic… it works though, and soon enough the song resolves, quietly winding down with just the man and his guitar.
‘Cotton Dandelion Dress’ conjures a wonderful atmosphere, seemingly awash with autumnal evening light. This feeling is reinforced by the cello and violin, which accompany Inti through most of the song (I am reminded of the string playing on parts Jeff Buckley’s album Grace).
‘Arabian Dolls’ continues in the same vein, with Inti’s sweet tune richly embellished by the sung and bowed harmonies of his cohorts. It ends unexpectedly, underpinned by a deep, reverberating note on the cello. Twenty seconds later comes the (hidden) closing track of the Ep. It is quite lovely, a simple ditty, just solo voice and guitar, and sounds like it was recorded in one take. For all the wonderful, imaginative enhancements on the rest of the record, and they really do make it a varied and rewarding listen, the final track exposes the real nub of Inti’s talent: his beautiful voice and considered approach to song writing.
I am told that Inti and Megan will be playing some gigs soon, to find out when and where, check his Facebook.
If you would like to buy the record, which as you may have realised I heartily recommend, you can do on his Bandcamp.