The Seed-At-Zero
Although he was born in Scotland, Robin Williamson has devoted  his life to exploring the music, poetry, and songs of the wider Celtic  world. OnThe Seed-at-Zero, he turns his attention to the Welsh  bardic tradition, which for him includes the mythic figures Taliesen  and Llywarch Hen, the 17th century metaphysical poet Henry Vaughn, and  modern poets Idris Davies and Dylan Thomas. Williamson also includes  some of his own songs, using them to answer the questions raised by the  older poems. Setting poetry to music is a dodgy undertaking in the best  of circumstances, and when the poet is Thomas, whose intensely lyrical  verse is already more musical than many songs, the task seems  especially doomed to failure. But Williamson has composed stark and  effective settings that support the words without hindering the  carefully crafted rhythms. He backs himself on harp, guitar, and  mandolin while performing versions of poems such as "In My Craft or  Sullen Art" and "On No Work of Words" in a declamatory style that is  halfway between speech and song. The music onThe Seed-at-Zerois more subdued than the psychedelic Celtic folk-rock of his first  group,the Incredible String  Band, but while Williamson has foregone the musical fripperies of  his earlier work, he has developed a style that is more personal and  deeply felt.--Michael Simmons