FIVE STARS ***** Having seen this exciting young duo on a couple of occasions and been suitably impressed, this first full album comes with very high expectations indeed, and I’m pleased to say that it doesn’t disappoint. All but one of the tracks here are self-penned, but traditional influences are worn proudly: Roberts’s ‘I Don’t Want To Say Goodbye’ is given an Irish flavour by the dancing fiddle, whilst Gilmore’s ‘Hunter Man’ – a number one single in a different and better parallel universe – underpins its threatening narrative with a gypsy swing. As well as songwriters of a maturity beyond their years – check out the haunting ‘Stopped Clock’ – both are consummate musicians. Gilmore’s fiddle switches in an instant from seductive to soaring, and Roberts is one of the few of the current crop of percussive acoustic guitar players who uses his dexterity in the service of the music rather than the ego. ‘White Lie’ recalls Seth Lakeman, one of the many artists to tip the duo, and whilst this is the only song to suggest a direct comparison, Gilmore and Roberts are another young act producing sharp contemporary songs with roots deep in the British folk tradition.
