String quartet taps into folk sounds
The Fretless chose to take on the instrumental format of a classical string quartet — violins, a viola and cello — and their warm, wooden harmonies are to be celebrated, but that’s where the obvious expectations end.
From their start some six years ago, the multiple award-winning group has focused on traditional and new original tunes in a folk vein, and they’re still evolving. In festival performance, you might see most of them standing up as you would a bluegrass band, and they choose to call their instruments “fiddles” as often as not. Cellist Eric Wright explains: “The idea was just to take a classical-looking ensemble and to figure out a way to play traditional Celtic, and Canadian, and American oldtime music in a way that was sort of new, but using the constraints of a classical quartet in order to manufacture some creativity. In the end, you can’t help but bring in a little bit of the classical mindset when you have those instruments, but it’s very much about Americana or the bluegrass or Celtic influence.”
Then again, how many classical quartets — or folk bands — would choose to cover Radiohead?
“When people see pictures of us, we look like some sort of classical ensemble just from the instruments alone, and part of the idea of the band was to maybe draw people who wouldn’t normally be into Celtic or fiddle music and change their mind a bit. We’ve been experimenting beyond the folk genre from the start of things. It just seems to resonate with the folk crowd.”
The original lineup of The Fretless came together in late 2011 on Vancouver Island when three violinists who had met through the Canadian fiddle scene — Karrnnel Sawitsky (from Saskatoon, now based in Toronto), Trent Freeman (from Comox, B.C.), and Ivonne Hernandez — decided to call up an American cellist they knew of — Vermont’s Eric Wright — and invite him to complete a rootsy string quartet for sessions of traditional folk music that became the quartet’s maiden release Waterbound. They played numerous Canadian festivals and even made it to Germany for a short tour. When Waterbound (2012) won the WCMA Instrumental Album of the Year, and Canadian Folk Music Awards for both Ensemble and Instrumental Group of the year, the band’s future was assured. Violinist Ben Plotnick (from Calgary, based in Nashville) replaced Hernandez about two years ago and appears on the group’s latest live disc, Live From The Art Farm.
“Our sound has really evolved since Ben joined the band. Having a new member with new influences automatically changes our sound right away.”
Given that his cello entails low frequencies, Wright tends to take on many of the rhythmic grooves.
“The cello wasn’t very involved in traditional music until recently. It’s having a bit of a renaissance now where cello pops up more and more, but this has definitely changed the way I think about the cello, going from more of an accompaniment, bass instrument to more of a rhythmic instrument, almost like a rhythm guitar.”
They have all studied to connect the dots between the Celtic tradition, old Irish and Scot tunes, music of the Appalachians, and folk enclaves such as Cape Breton.
“We always wanted to end up playing some kind of fiddle music. It was always in our hearts.”
Waterbound was all about traditional tunes, but the group has gradually moved to include more and more original music on releases like The Fretless (2014), and the almost all original, Juno Awardwinning Bird’s Nest (2016).
Whatever the source, all of their tunes use new arrangements by the band members.
“Someone brings in a new traditional tune or one that they wrote and we sit in a circle to come up with ideas. A lot of our influences come from outside traditional music, so a bit of folk or pop or jazz, or different bands we grew up hearing, from The Rankin Family to Nirvana. We don’t like to put any constraints on chord choices, just to see what we get.”
Their new disc finds them playing almost entirely traditional Irish tunes again with just three original tracks.
“It was more of a concept album, to collect all of our favourite Irish tunes that you might hear in a pub and to give our own spin on things.”
Wright says they are planning the next album to include collaborations with different vocalists and a wider range of material.
While The Fretless have played across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, Saturday marks their Edmonton debut.