I’ve been following Richard Laurence’s neoclassical project Gifts From Crows for a few years now and even had the pleasure of putting his trio on stage at The National Centre for Early Music as part of York Alive Festival last year.

By Graeme Smith

They’ve just released a new album in celebration of their trio reworkings of his tracks. Entitled Trio Reworks, the album plays very much like a live set, capturing the essence of the performance for those who weren’t able to make the recent shows.

The collection is opened by the gentle and hypnotic A Resolution, originally released as part of Gift From Crows’ second album Stories In Slow Light. The trio rework takes on a more immediate quality from its ethereal original, with drums, horns and keys that provide a solid framework for its ghostly vocal samples.

From there we get a selection of Gifts From Crows’ more memorable tracks, from the otherworldly Fragments of Light and Beyond The Frame to the haunting, rumbling Becoming Autumn. The latter kicks of a suite that celebrates the changing of the seasons, accompanied by the textured Now Winter Has Come, the rousing Falling Down Your Hillside, and the dreamy Brightness of Summer.

The album’s finale commences with the stirring piano melody of A Persistent Dream originally from Etudes of the Crow. A personal favourite of mine from the act’s debut album Holding A Thought Forever, But When You Sleep…, comes next, providing a late collection highlight with its captivating composition. Things are brought to a close by the slow-burning As Nature Returns, the bright and ambient Something Thought Lost Is Found and the Sunrise Mix of Brightness of Summer.

Trio Reworks was recorded at Motor Museum Studio in Liverpool with sound engineering by Ben Harper. Richard plays piano, synths and samples, and is joined by Helen Southall on recorder, and soprano and tenor saxophone, and Garfield Southall on percussion and synths.

The album is available now as a limited edition CD and digital download via the Gifts From Crows Bandcamp page. You can check it out below.