Page 112 - FULL BOOK Isata Kanneh-Mason Childhood Tales

album climax Straight Jacket Fitting is a right ruckus, opining “the world
she don’t need saving apart from you and me and our misbehaving” before

finally exhaling on an acoustic psych rock coda.

Far From Saints is a lockdown-birthed roots trio formed by Stereophonics
frontman Kelly Jones with Patty Lynn and Dwight Baker from US outfit The

Wind and The Wave, providing ample opportunities for harmonies and
Americana flavours.

Their self-titled debut plays out exactly as you might expect with a mix of
country balladry, southern soul inflections, winsome vanilla pop, orchestral

embellishments and the acoustic roots rock which best suits Jones’s raspy

voice, accompanied effectively on Gonna Find What’s Killing Me with the
soulful pulse of Hammond organ.

CLASSICAL

Isata Kanneh-Mason: Childhood Tales (Decca) ****

Isata Kanneh-Mason, the senior member of Nottingham’s famous musical
family, plays to her strengths in her latest album, Childhood Tales. There's a

fresh, virtuosic innocence to her pianism that perfectly suits the inventive

simplicity of Mozart’s Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman” (better
known to us as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”), the inoffensive whimsy of

Dohnányi’s concerto-style diversions on the same theme (Variations on a

Nursery Song), the picture book sketches of Debussy’s Children’s Corner,
and the deliciously crafted sentimentality of Schumann’s Kinderszenen.

Kanneh-Mason is at her most rounded and assured in the Dohnányi,

interacting vivaciously and mischievously with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra under Domingo Hindoyan. Friendly engagement informs her solo

performances, a tonal directness that conveys profundity, even if her lyrical
articulation occasionally lacks the necessary fluidity. But there is

unmistakable charm, especially with Debussy and Schumann, that is