The Lasses
Album: Daughters
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 13
Website: https://thelasses.wordpress.com

The Lasses are Margot Limburg and Sophie ter Schure, two Dutch girls who (so the story goes) met at an Irish session at Mulligan's in Amsterdam and discovered a shared love of harmony singing and telling stories through music. Margot's the alto, whereas Sophie takes the soprano line, and their voices fit together perfectly, while their accomplishment individually as solo singers is also very much apparent.

Sophie's already released a solo album, while Margot has busked the streets with husband Ed as half of the duo Sunflower. Daughters turns out to be The Lasses' second album, and represents much of a sequel-continuation in the usual sense. It delivers a persuasive mix of traditional material from the States, Ireland and Scotland topped up with a few covers. These meet with variable success to my mind: Cyril Tawney's Grey Funnel Line is the pick of the bunch, done in a nicely measured, controlled a cappella (rather in the manner of the gorgeous Hissyfit version), while The Cobbler's Daughter skips through with just a tumbling bodhrán for company.

Richard Thompson's Dimming Of The Day receives an imaginative reading, with a lilting, swaying Latino rhythm, while Bill Monroe's The One I Love Is Gone is a clear candidate for a definitive studio recording, being already something of a live favourite for the duo. Old Cook Pot (a Henry Girls special) sports a tasty, delicious sense of fun, but the genial gestures of Percy French's Eileen Óg feel just a touch forced here.

In The Pines and Polly Vaughn are probably the most successful of the traditional numbers; the latter is one of a pair of tracks to feature the violin playing of Mirte van Graaff, while Alan McLachlan's musical expertise (mandolin, banjo or electric guitar) augments the Lasses on six other cuts and Stijn van Beek's low whistle adds suitable Celtic-cred atmospherics to Jim McLean's Hush, Hush.

At the end of the disc comes a curiosity: Victor Lacken, the man who brought the Lasses together, is repaid for his initiative by being allowed to take the vocal lead on Stretched On Your Grave; and yet, although this is very capably sung, and the reason for its inclusion is clear, it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the disc.

In general, the appeal of the Lasses' music lies in its clear-sightedness, its purposeful and direct expression, and (naturally) in its undistractingly lovely harmonies - and Margot and Sophie sing without a hint of "accent" and thus don't betray the sense of authenticity they give, both in their well-thought-out performances and in the almost-as-live quality of the recording itself, which captures the simple and unaffected quality of their acoustic guitar playing to perfection as a foil for their vocal work. Yes, The Lasses are well worth investigating.

David Kidman