The Mae Trio
Album: Housewarming
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 13
Website: http://www.themaetrio.com

We're truly blessed with what feels like a golden generation of contemporary folk acts at the moment. Where Lau, Treacherous Orchestra, The Old Dance School and The Peatbogs lead, The Mae Trio now follow. Recorded in the UK as well as their native Australia the groups' debut album comes hot on the heels of a rave review from this year's Celtic Connections, and it's easy to see why those reviews were indeed rave! The album of 12 self-penned tracks is closed out beautifully by an a cappella cover version of Kate Rusby's 'Lately' which pays tribute to rather than plagiarises the original.

There's a ton of different ideas and themes throughout the album, all of which are brilliantly realised. 'The Boat' is a bouncy, banjo driven ballad with a disjointed flow of lyrics which proves great fun whilst the title track displays a tremendous pop sensibility whilst retaining the sense of tradition that the trio appear so proud to be part of. The greatest sense that The Mae Trio are well versed in the lineage that they now carry comes in 'William Morris' with a Pentangle-esque vocal sequence dropping into one of many gorgeous 3 part harmonies that litter the album.

With UK festival appearances due throughout July The Mae Trio will make loads of new friends this summer and rightly so. The future of folk music has yet another fantastic custodian and the scene will be all the stronger for it!

Rob Fearnley