Fit and the Conniptions: Old Blue Witch

BEST OF 2017
17
HCTF

Few people in the UK were more hated than Margaret Thatcher, the conservative Prime Minister from Hell. When she died in 2013 those sentiments came to the fore in an unprecedented show of jubilation: the witch was dead. Folk singer Wayne Myers found the inspiration for a new album with his band Fit and the Conniptions. about the havoc she wrecked and connect it the current state of affairs. Thatcher may be long gone, but her ideology of divide and conquer is very much alive. The economy is in flux, the Brexit has split the nation in two halves shouting at each other.

Myers has a case for being pessimistic and angry, but as an artist he couldn't be happier. Short of being in some kind of relationship trouble nothing beats an arrogant adversary to get the songwriting juices flowing. He dons the guise of an outsider during a party who (Festival Of Fools), brings fabled union leader Bob Crow back to life and sums up all the cuts on health care and the rampant unemployment in Valentine's Day. He tries to escape from it all, travels to an unfashionable German city (Stuttgart In October) and dreams about potential female companions named Carolina and Brenda Finn, and fantasizes about befriending a mythical creature in Mermaid Song.

Fit and the Conniptions may be preaching to the converted during their shows, but the Tories should take their stories seriously. Somebody should it send a copy of Old Blue Witch to Number 10. The current resident could use this "sound advice".

Fit and the Conniptions:
Wayne Myers: bass, vocals
Duncan Menzies: fiddle, viol, tin whistle
Holly Mallett: drums
Guest appearances by Whiskey Mick Rowan (mandolin), Dana Immanuel (banjo, vocals) and Saskia Doornbos (vocals)

Old Blue Witch is a self-released album. Buy it from the band's website.

Tracks:

1. Festival Of Fools
2. Old Blue Witch
3. Move On
4. One Of These Days
5. Bob Crow
6. Mermaid Song
7. What Kelly Knew
8. Carolina
9. Useful Things
10. Stuttgart In October
11. Valentine's Day
12. Brenda Finn

» conniptions.org

HCTF review of Sleeping Beauty.