“Re-wilding” is how Sam Lee describes his treatment of antique folk songs, most on this second album collected by him from the Travelling community. There’s certainly a free, sometimes fierce spirit to the arrangements brewed by Lee and co-producers Arthur Jeffes and Jamie Orchard-Lisle (both of Penguin Cafe). Opener Jonny O’the Brine gallops to a tabla rhythm, Bonny Bunch of Roses drifts on a backdrop of flutes, fiddles and a crackling east European 78, while Lovely Molly uses a full choir. Lee’s baritone vocals are supple rather than wild, delivering time-honoured tales of love, estrangement and betrayal with engaging intimacy. A wonderfully inventive creation.
