Kings & Folk
Album: Branching Out
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.kingsandfolk.com

Worcester-based outfit Kings & Folk has at its core the piano-and-fiddle duo of Ian and Claire King, who combine their classical training with a love of traditional music from Scotland, England, Ireland and eastern Europe. Their actual repertoire is drawn in the main from Claire's Scottish-with-Irish-roots upbringing, while Ian's skills in composition and arranging both take care of that side of their music and provide significant highlight items.

Branching Out may or may not be their debut album - the band website doesn't give any clues - but the biog states that Kings & Folk have been together for five years, so I'd guess a debut status is unlikely. Either way, the music presented on this disc is both beautifully played and expertly arranged, yet without losing a certain sense of spontaneity in the delivery. It's very much in the accessible-crossover bracket, literally a distinctly stylish folk-meets-classical album with a good old-fashioned (I mean that as a compliment) accomplished quality to its music-making. Generally speaking, the album alternates between dance-form pieces - either compositions by Ian himself or popular reels or jigs from tradition - and more reflective or lyrical items. Perhaps the finest of the latter category is Ian's lovely composition Grace (one of the pair of tracks recorded at RealWorld Studios as a prize for winning the Bath Folk Festival New Shoots Competition in 2013). Also impressive is a strangely comforting, nicely wintry arrangement of Scarborough Fair that conveys both the beauty and sadness of the season, while Portencross is a portrait of a favourite beach on the Ayrshire coast. The latter tone-poem also features the remaining band members, Helen Izod (whistle) and David King (djembe).

The faster-paced items are simply and appealingly done, and the effect is rather like being present at the more polite and melodious type of session or concert where mild toe-tapping is encouraged - no criticism intended! … Midway between these stools is the reel Paddy McCarthy, which scores with its refreshingly leisurely improvisatory lilt that rather put me in mind of the kind of treatment Percy Grainger might have bestowed on the tune.

The remaining three tracks are songs by Ian, and feature a guest singer, Colette Todd - former solo vocalist in world tours of Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance - whose approach lends the ensemble a vibe rather akin to Annie Haslam's Renaissance. Anyone favouring the crystal-cut purity and expertise of that band will respond to these tracks, and they certainly provide contrast and relief from the all-instrumental climate of the rest of the disc (not that it necessarily needs it).

David Kidman