Steve Folk & Jane South
Album: Don't Look Down
Label: The Birdman
Tracks: 5
Website: http://www.folkandsouth.com

You may know Steve Folk better as Blabbermouth, a guise in which Steve recorded three albums, but if "Don't Look Down" is anything to go by, it won't be long before the name of this duo surpasses that recognition.

Having teamed up together back in 2013 it didn't take the duo long to get into the studio, Steve's solar powered studio, based on a narrowboat to record, "Viva Italia" an EP recorded exclusively for sale on an Italian tour they had put together and is naturally a bit of a bitch to get hold of. Fortunately there are no such difficulties with the new release.

This is an EP that was brought to life with the power of the sun and to a degree the same can be said for its feel and inspiration, it is an album, that musically at least has a bright, naturalist feel, something that you notice from the almost pastoral feel of opener, "Modern Day Gypsies" to the closing chords of track five "Ugly Man".

The latter also gives a sense of a narrative across the album and one that pretty much states that all that is beauty is not necessarily pretty and to a degree the opposite applies in that just because something it pretty does not mean that it has beauty or is without menace.

Musically, "Don't Look Down" feels like an EP of simple clean lines that follow a folky Americana path, drawing on sumptuous melodies and glorious harmony. Steve Folk & Jane South have delivered an EP that is well worth talking about.

Neil King