The folk explosion of recent years has largely centred around contemporary folk, or moreover, some kind of nostalgia for a time there never was in which the world resembles the Richmond sausages advert, where chirpy troubadours take to the road with nothing but acoustic instruments, then some time later return home to the bosom of their loving mam who serves good, hearty traditional grub to her boys. What I want to know is how she can have half a dozen sausages sizzling to a perfect golden brown in the pan, but serve up three each to her strapping and obviously immensely talented lads and herself.
Anyway, more traditional folk hasn’t really been so much in the picture, which makes ‘Don’t Look Down’ a refreshing proposition. They may pitch themselves as contemporary, but they demonstrate values that are both modern and altogether more traditional. Showing a concern for contemporary environmental issues, they recorded this EP on a narrowboat using a solar-powered studio, but their music harks back to another era altogether in its values. Simple, melodic, uncluttered and unpretentious, the five tracks featured here are honest and dreamy, short, sweet and breezy. Very pleasant indeed.
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Folk & South Online
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