Craig Fortnam's name is quite familiar to our readers, particularly from his stints with the North Sea Radio Orchestra, a ensemble chamber-prog-folk which, among the many merits, has that of having recalled and brought to the attention of the new generations Robert Wyatt's masterpiece “Rock Bottom”, skilfully reworked with the complicity of ex-Henry Cow John Greaves, William D. Drake (Cardiacs) and Annie Barbazza, for an album (“Folly Bololey (Songs From Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom)”) recorded in the Italian Piacenza. Craig Fortnam also usually performs under the name Arch Garrison (a duo completed by James Larcombe, former member of NSRO, and Stars In Battledress) and has a fair amount of solo albums to his credit. After participating in the latest album of the rediscovered Cardiacs, the musician also found time for an intriguing new project with Laurent Valéro, published by the local label Dark Companion.
”Empty Vessels” is an elegant collection of classical-medieval music. The folk soul of the project is underlined by the sound of James Larcombe's hurdy-gurdy, especially appreciable in the only traditional song, “Bourée”, and in the daring title trackand by the use of flutes, viola and violins by Laurent Valéro, protagonists of the evocative “Cathedral” and of “Something”, an instrumental with innovative fusions between past and present which acts as a coda to “In The Magic Number” to the point of not being technically separate.
Despite the stylistic premises, “Empty Vessels” is not an album of revisited traditional songs (the only exception being the aforementioned “Bourée”), therefore it is not only the extravagant experimental digressions of “In The Silent Places” or the singer-songwriter utterances of “Cries Of London” that are the fruit of Fortnam's pen but also the gentle and refined “Inky” and “Letting Go Not Letting Go”, two madrigals with ancient charm. Annie Barbazza's voice is the protagonist, in addition to the aforementioned “Letting Go Not Letting Go”, also in the most elaborate and musically rich track of the work, “White Swan”, a mini-suite with unpredictable instrumental facets, a perfect synthesis of the duo's ability to create new prototypes of folk music.
It's unfortunate that a record like “Empty Vessels” remains the prerogative of a small circle of fans who follow the new voices of folk and Canterbury sound: although the album may appear like a parenthesis in Craig Fortnam's career, it is instead an important piece not only of the musician's experience but of the entire production of the current year, an unusual folk album in a Renaissance/ancient key that will surprise you with every listen.
06/19/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
