Album Notes

"...stands all your preconceptions of nautical song on its head. A surprising folk-rock record of the first calibre."
Rootsworld
Lee Blackstone's Best of 1997


"Real ship kickin' music"
Jack Coutts (director Mersey Shanty Festival and Stormalong John member)



“There weren’t a whole lot of fragile hurdy-gurdies aboard old sailing ships, nor were there electric guitars and drum kits, for that matter. But that’s no reason not to crank up Anglo-American sea music and have some fun, as the Seattle-based vocal/instrumental duo of William Pint and Felicia Dale do here on their fourth album. Their arrangements are modern, harmonious and sometimes rocking, but always true to the saltwater spirit of this collection of mostly-traditional sea shanties and nautical ballads.

Pint, who handles most of the vocal leads, isn’t a classic shanty singer -- his voice is more earnest than resonant. He has a sense for the power and feeling of the songs, though, whether they tell of a sailor’s longing for home, as in their slow arrangement of “Come Down to Hilo,” or of the exuberant celebration of the successful rounding of Cape Horn in “Round the Corner, Sally.”


The most striking thing about the diverse, multi-instrumental arrangements is Dale’s hurdy-gurdy, which adds an ominous buzz to the broken-token ballad “John Riley,” a plaintive wail to the story of “The Sailboat Malarky,” and a jubilant scream to the very electric title track. “Sugar in the Hold,” a New Orleans cargo-loading song, gets a Bourbon Street boogie shuffle, while the Channel Islands song “Marguerite” (sung in French by Dale) gets grafted onto an Irish jig. There are some quiet tracks, too. A setting of Rudyard Kipling’s seal legend “The Beaches of Leukannon” is a close-harmony duet, while the shanty “Haul on the Bowline” is sung as a straight unaccompanied chorus piece.”

-Tom Nelligan

Dirty Linen, USA



“A modern approach to sea songs is taken by William Pint and Felicia Dale. This is the third release from the Seattle-based duo, and represents a flight of fancy from their past recordings as they experiment with Celtic-rock rhythms and delivery in this collection of nine traditional and two recently composed songs. I have to say, these arrangements, for the most part, are not my cup of tea, but the musicianship is stellar and the singing is engaging almost all the way through. Dale delivers some exceptional work on hurdy-gurdy, its “maniacal” droning making a perfect bass line for some of these songs. Her playing in the 7/8 “Ruchenitsa” is particularly extraordinary.

Pint is clearly enjoying himself when he lends an electric guitar to “Round the Corner Sally,” or belts out “Sugar in the Hold.” Bob Zentz’s lovely setting of Kipling’s “Beaches of Leukannon” is also included.

Pint and Dale have clearly done their homework in finding and researching these songs, and the result is a characteristically modern collection, but one that gives a nod to the work done by collectors like (Paul) Clayton.”

-Mary DesRosiers

Sing Out!, USA