Caroline Huynh Van Xuan - Since in Vain / UnderGround(s) (2017) [Hi-Res]

A repeating bassline "the ground" has magically underpinned music as different as Dido’s Lament and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” (a 12-bar blues), buoying up the melody on a hypnotic undercurrent. The award-winning French harpsichordist Caroline Huynh Van Xuan's first album is based around this very idea—music from 17th- and 18th-century England that spreads its wings luxuriantly, following the austerity of the Commonwealth years. Music by Eccles, Draghi, Weldon, Babell, and others tickle the ear and, as a witty finale, the album closes with "A Ground on 'Moon Over Bourbon Street'" by Gordon Sumner, a.k.a. Sting. It fits the program like a glove.