Mawkin have had an uneasy career. Six years ago they teamed up with Jim Causley and became the new young favourites of the British folk scene. Following his departure the band concentrated on instrumentals with vocal help from friends, but their last album was patchy. This new album is much more convincing. Guitarist David Delarre re-appears as a confidently powerful singer with an urgent, theatrical style that at times echoes Jon Boden, while his fiddler brother Jamie is also in impressive voice. They are backed by melodeon and a solid, stomping rhythm section, and the result is a gutsy re-working of traditional songs that suggests a slimmed-down Bellowhead without the brass. The full-tilt anthems Jolly Well Drunk and Shanghai Brown should make them festival favourites, but they calm down to demonstrate their instrumental skills on Breton and Finnish tunes and the exquisite finale, Young May Moon.
