Traditional folk in 2018 feels urgent and fascinatingly new, thanks to bands who channel the raw rage in old folk songs and present it unvarnished. Stick in the Wheel’s 2015 debut, From Here, felt like a rallying cry, as did last year’s collaborative follow-up, From Here: English Folk Field Recordings, marshalling well-known and contemporary singers (Martin Carthy, Lisa Knapp) to sing about place and identity. Follow Them True marches forward. The musicianship is razor-sharp, direct and fantastic: ancient tunes such as Abbots Horn Bromley Dance full of life, lust and blood, Roving Blade and Poor Old Horse bringing together instruments and voices with clamouring resolve. Nicola Kearey’s no-nonsense east London vocals are by turns accusing and beautifully chilling, while Follow Them True and Red Carnation take the electronic roots of the band’s past (as members of Various Production) to inform us of our far wider, richer past together. The future starts here.
