The Knights Of Mentis
Album: New Pound Coin
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 11
Website: http://www.knightsofmentis.bandcamp.com

In these days of band sizes trending down, it's refreshing to get an album from a decent sized combo, an nontet to be precise, one that regales under the moniker, "The Knights Of Mentis", though in Sally Baden, there is also a Lady amongst the Knights.

The band were born out of the Oxford live music scene and that is something that is very much reflected in their recorded work. When I first heard the band via internet radio, I thought I'd joined a live show, though quickly disavowed of that by the presenter, I was distinctly impressed, even more so the said presenter dived straight into another track.

There are two consistent threads that weave the cloth that is "New Pound Coin" the first is the three part harmonies of Peter Graham, Jed Dale and Keith Birnie, the other the instrumentation and arrangements across all nine players.

Apart from that, what you get is a cloth of many colours, blues, Americana, bluegrass, old timey and folk to name but just five, not only that but across the eleven tracks on the album you do get the chance to really hear all of the instruments that come into play in so many different arrangements.

This is an album that is packed to the gills in energy and like a battery on a Dreamliner, you're never quite sure if it's going to burst its boundaries. That tension alone makes "New Pound Coin" an exciting and dynamic album, but it has a lot more going for it than that. This is also one of those albums that gets the feet tapping and the spirit lifting, never a bad result.

Neil King