“We know what we’re doing up to a point”.
A few tunes into Leveret’s well-attended show on Sunday night, and melodeon player Andy Cutting took the opportunity to enlighten the audience as to what the trio’s between-song conversations were about.
It transpired they were playing fast and loose with the setlist, picking and choosing pieces to play as and when they fancied it.
But to those present it was already clear that Cutting, alongside concertina player Rob Harbron and fiddler Sam Sweeney, were fully in control – of their instruments and of the direction of the gig.
The tunes – rants, reels, hornpipes, waltzes and jigs among them – were not ‘arranged’ as such, but learned and performed however the trio felt appropriate on the night, thus ensuring a completely unique live experience.
In the hands of amateurs this sort of experiment might be disastrous, but Leveret varied pace, volume and tone as if telepathically linked, performing quietly virtuosic, complex pieces with enthusiasm and apparent ease.
Highlights were many, but included Sussex tune Foul Weather Call, the sonorous An Italian Rant, and the group’s finale – a pair of slip jigs as lively and sprightly as the young hare that inspired the band’s name.
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