PROGRESSIVE FOLK

PAUL SEXTON traverses the UK for acoustic inclinations.

We begin on the edge of Dartmoor, in the village of South Brent, with stylish contemporary folk duo Harbottle & Jonas, who return with fifth album The Beacon (Brook View). Out on March 26, it’s been previewed by the title track and the traditional Black Is The Colour.

Like so much current music, it looks inward, but with great positivity, to home comforts, basic truths and devout hopes for the future.

Sharing lead vocals, David Harbottle and Freya Jonas are joined by violin and viola player Annie Baylis, who decorates an already verdant musical moorland. There’s humour amid the beauty, too, notably in the character on Whenever You See A Robin who is “a cross between Clint Eastwood and Stig Of The Dump”.

Then it’s 600 miles north to the Scottish Highlands for Broon’s self-released Cosmic Ceilidh, the instrumental accompaniment for a progressive folk hoedown with nods to rock, Americana and jazz. Broon is multi-instrumentalist Steve Brown, he of the mandolin, guitars, bass, piano, accordion and drum loops. Written over six years in his home studio in Arisaig, its stylistic blend is what he drily calls “a game of three halves”. Sometimes, as on New Clear Days, Brown mixes old-school instrumentation with beats, adding rock guitar and a funk groove to such as Seeds Beneath The Snow. Others again, like A Timeless Love, are all pretty acoustics. With his command of loop sorcery and devotion to Rush, three tracks feature the ethereal drumming presence of Neil Peart. As Brown says, “file under world music, celtic fusion, prog croft”, but most of all just enjoy, and genres be damned.

Iain Matthews extends his prodigious discography with the CD edition of Fake Tan (Talking Elephant). Released last year on vinyl, it sees him fortified from his association with crack Norwegian outfit the Salmon Smokers. The go-with-the-flow feel runs from the brooding sing-song opener Same Old Man to the banjo and pedal steel-driven Keep On Sailing at the other end. There’s room for remakes of Dylan’s It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry and, yes, Iain’s chart triumph with Matthews Southern Comfort, Joni Mitchell’s ever adaptable Woodstock, this time with almost a dub vibe.

Pete Guy now records under the name of one of his own tracks, Feather House, and excels on an EP led by the gorgeously delicate, string-laden A Love To Heal. Deserving approvals have already arrived from Tom Robinson and Travis frontman Fran Healy, and all four supporting songs mirror its promise.

Finally Ned Roberts, whose Dream Sweetheart album was a 2020 highlight, offers From The Reels 2012-2020 (nedroberts.bandcamp.com), chiefly a selection of unreleased outtakes across eight years with producer Luther Russell. Ned’s Dylan-esque troubadour spirit flourishes, with Joe Harvey-Whyte’s lucent pedal steel adorning Slower Than The Sea and The Drinker.