A lot can happen in nine years. For folk troubadour Carus Thompson, plenty has changed in the nine years since the recording of the first Acoustic at the Norfolk album. In that time he has gotten married, become a father, put out three acclaimed records, and played countless shows across two continents. Now, nine years on from the first, Thompson is recording the follow up to his career defining live album.
It seems right that Thompson is back on stage at the Norfolk Basement to record the follow up. There’s a sense of continuity, of tradition; this is where it all started. Joined on stage by both family (Christian Thompson) and friends (Adam Gare, Mo Wilson and Jean Guy), Thompson performed tracks from his three most recent albums, as well as few tracks from his earlier recordings. There was one main pre-requisite for the songs on offer for the evening: they couldn’t have appeared on the first Acoustic album.
Thompson played two sets over the course of the evening, each being roughly an hour long. With an audience of about twenty or thirty it proved to be an intimate night. Carus opened proceedings with one of his earliest tracks, “Plains”, with his brother Christian on backing vocals. By the end of the second track, a beautiful and moving rendition of Caravan’s “15”, that you became aware this was going to be something special. The first set of the evening had just the right balance, with a subtle mix of upbeat tracks as well as his more quiet and introspective tracks. Particular highlights included “Caravan”, which reached whole new levels with some hauntingly beautiful harmonica from Jean Guy. Whilst a full band version of “Imperfect Circle” was an impressive addition midway through the set, a solo acoustic rendition of “Headstrong” brought an added poignancy to the proceedings.
The second set was no less impressive, though featured a few more rarities, including a fair few tracks from 2007’s Three Boxes, including the title track and a rocking full band version of “Last Days of Winter”. Carus also managed to slip in a completely new track, the poignant “Soon”, which was written in the colder locale of Edinburgh. The set slowly built to an upbeat finish, with a great full band rendition of “Your Eyes are Bleeding” from the Creature of Habit album, before finally closing out the night with the beautiful “Dancing in the Wind”, sung by the two Thompson brothers for their grandfather.
Thompson knows how to put on a great performance, to draw the audience in, to move them. This night was no different. From start to finish, Thompson took his audience through a musical journey, from German high security prisons right through to the rugged landscape of Australia’s North West. From love and happiness, to heartbreak. But, of course, he didn’t manage all that alone; he had the help of his friends, the talented Mo Wilson on the specially hired, upright piano, who showed off his range and skill throughout the night. Adam Gare was equally impressive on violin and mandolin, with the violin in particular bringing an added emotional quality to a few of the songs. Christian Thompson was solid on vocals, pulling out some great harmonies throughout the evening, and finally there was the outstanding Jean Guy on harmonica, showing all his poise and skill throughout the evening with some stellar solos.
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