Floyds Row set to return with new album

Floyds Row is a folk collective whose work stretches across early, classical, folk, newgrass and world traditions, operating as a collective that seems particularly interested in what happens when those histories are allowed to meet. Formed through a series of concerts at the University of Oxford, the ensemble has grown into an international collective with performances across both sides of the Atlantic, bringing together musicians whose individual backgrounds are as varied as the musical styles they explore.

The group first came together through collaborations organised by Chris Ferebee, alongside Alistair Anderson, Andrew Arceci and a selection of guest musicians. Those early concerts eventually led to the ensemble’s debut recording, The Oxford Sessions, released through Centaur Records in 2018. Since then, Floyds Row has continued developing its unique approach to music that feels at once tethered to history and alive in the present.

The collective’s lineup brings together soprano Emily Noël, violinist Asako Takeuchi, pianist and composer George Lykogiannis, Chris Ferebee on cittern, guitar and mandolin, Andrew Arceci on viola da gamba and upright bass and percussionist George Lernis. Emily has performed across North America and Europe in repertoire ranging from Medieval music to contemporary works, earning praise from The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal for the beauty and clarity of her performances. Asako’s work as a baroque violinist has taken her through ensembles across the UK, Netherlands, Canada and US, while George brings a background in classical piano, composition and improvisation, alongside extensive work accompanying dance in New York.

Chris’ own interests reach into musicology and composition, encompassing Medieval and Renaissance music, ethnomusicology and English music, while Andrew combines multi-instrumental performance with scholarly collaborations involving museums and cultural institutions across North America, Europe and Asia. George adds another particularly distinctive dimension, drawing on musical traditions from the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean alongside contemporary jazz training at Berklee College of Music, with his instruments including the darbuka, bendir, riq and microtonal hammered dulcimer known as the santur.

It’s perhaps this breadth of experience that makes Floyds Row’s output so compelling and their original vision now comes into sharper view with the group’s upcoming album titled The Carlisle Sessions. Here, Floyds Row turns its attention towards the old, forgotten and obscure, brushing the dust from musical relics and giving them new life through a contemporary folk-classical perspective.

Set to land on the 21st of August, the album revives five musical tales, each carrying its own sense of history and story. Among them are stories of swashbuckling adventures, the enduring legend of Robin Hood and music said to have inspired George Washington to cut a rug. There’s an almost archaeological quality to the project; the collective searches through the past not simply to recreate what came before but to discover what can still speak to a modern audience. Its musicians become interpreters and reanimators, taking old material and allowing it to exist within a new and exciting musical environment.

From opening track “George Washington’s Favorite Cotillion” which brings a jaunty folk groove peppered with fluttering melodies and pattering rhythms, “Henry Martin” glides with melancholic vocals which carry picture painting lyrics above a waltzing rhythmic sway before “Jackaroe” arrives with plucked acoustic guitar notes and expressive vocal performance, casting a classic folk experience that builds with lively percussive patterns and intricate instrumentation.

“Maiden Lane / Kettle Drum” flows with haunting string textures before developing with uptempo energy and dancing melodic leads, offering a transportive musical moment that’s impossible not to love. Closing track “The Song of Robin Hood & his Huntes-men” progresses with a hypnotic groove and delicate arrangement as Emily’s stunning voice soars above to craft a memorable folk experience that brings to life Chris Ferebee’s composition in spectacular fashion.

With The Carlisle Sessions, their journey turns further towards the past yet the music itself is anything but static. By combining folk classical flair with a fascination for overlooked musical histories, Floyds Row shows that the distance between then and now can be surprisingly small and that sometimes, all an old song needs is someone willing to brush away the dust, listen closely and let it speak again.

Listen to The Song of Robin Hood & his Huntes-men below