Unlike much else in the folk canon, sea shanties and sailors’ ballads aren’t often given a musical makeover (Hal Willner’s 2006 Rogues’ Gallery aside). Here, a trio led by singer Ben Nicholls give antique whalers’ songs from the early 19th century a modern setting, mixing wistful concertina with reverb guitar and jazzy percussion. Producer John Parish adds a visceral, psych flourish to pieces such as Terrible Polly that evoke weary, homesick days on ship. The settings are ingenious and Nicholls’s baritone proves genial, not least on the romp King of the Cannibal Islands.
