Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker specialise in melancholy, and the move to a new record label hasn’t altered their approach. They constantly change styles on a set that’s dominated by songs about dusk, the night and dawn, and the mood remains the same as they switch from Elizabethan balladry to country, jazz and 60s pop.
Clarke is a compelling singer, influenced by Sandy Denny in both her phrasing and lyrics, and she is finely backed by Walker’s delicate guitar work, and the sparing use of strings, piano and horns. The best songs are the most direct and intimate. Something Familiar is a quietly intense, country-influenced song that stands up well against a powerful reworking of Gillian Welch’s Dark Turn of Mind. Elsewhere, the duo ease from slow, brooding balladry to late-night jazz, or from slow, twanging guitars to languid lounge pop. A gently exquisite set.
