Tom Moore, Archie Churchill-Moss and Jack Rutter play violin, melodeon and acoustic guitar, and use traditional themes as a starting point for a largely instrumental style that mixes classical influences with intricate arrangements and the repeated riffs of systems music. Comparisons with Spiro are at times inevitable, but the trio have developed an elegant approach of their own since winning the BBC Young Folk Award four years ago. And they can’t be faulted for lack of bravery. There’s a delicate Henry Purcell hornpipe that segues into a self-written homage to Lewisham, and an elaborate arrangement of a Breton dance tune is treated with confident shifts of mood and pace. There are only three songs among the 10 tracks, and though Rutter is quietly effective on the traditional lament The Reed Cutter’s Daughter, he doesn’t quite have the power to do justice to the rousing John Tams song The Year Turns Round Again.
