Danny Pedler & Rosie Butler-Hall
Album: Bold
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 6
Website: http://www.dannyandrosie.co.uk

Danny Pedler & Rosie Butler-Hall are young folk musicians with roots in both English and French traditions, who came together as a duo in late 2011. After successes in competitions (finalists at New Roots in 2012) and at folk festivals, they've finally got round to recording an album, albeit only a 27-minute six-track taster, under the guidance of John Dipper, in a Wiltshire church late last summer. Their special and distinctive instrumental blend of hurdy gurdy (or accordion) and five-string fiddle is certainly ear-catching, and they play with a tremendous vitality and spirit, clearly enjoying as close a relationship with the music itself as from all accounts they build a rapport with their audience.

They've a keen sense of rhythm and line, which extends to their phrasing both instrumental and vocal - for three of the mini-album's tracks also contain or comprise songs. The word bold applies to their delivery, certainly, and by coincidence the opening item on the disc is a persuasive rendition of Bold Archer, which is capped by the French tune La Boîte À Frissons. Danny and Rosie take turns with lead vocal duties - Rosie on an updated Hares On The Mountain and Danny on Bold Riley - and they harmonise as confidently together as they intertwine melodies and rhythms when playing.

Throughout, but especially perhaps on the Andro/Sunshine medley, theirs is an infectious and scintillating blend, a winning combination that should gain them a good following and enable them to stand out in this age when ultra-talented and versatile duos seem to be becoming almost a norm. My only adverse comment on this well-recorded disc is that its bare tracklisting is insufficient these days (although I do recognise the necessary limitations of the single-cardboard-sleeve format).

David Kidman