The Duplets
Album: Leverage
Label: Accusound
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.theduplets.com

As the name implies, the Duplets are a duo, what you can't read from the name is that Gillian Fleetwood and Fraya Thompsen hail from Scotland and that their long overdue sequel to "Tree Of Strings", "Leverage" has sunk into a very rich vein of traditional and traditionally inspired Celtic music.

There are two aspects of the album that really strike a chord, the vocal quality and the harp playing, the latter in particular conjuring up a multitude of images, spread across land and seascapes that may or may not exist, but somehow seem so real when you're left to your imagination and the playing. The twin harps often weaving a more intricate scene than one could on its own.

Where the album moves into song, rather than instrumental, the language of choice is English, which caught me by surprise the first time I heard the album as I was anticipating the songs being in Gaelic. As a non-Gaelic speaker it's a welcome change. It means that I can get a genuine feel for the song and get into the finer detail, thoughts and feelings and be treated to some great string work at the same time

As with many albums in the traditional idiom there's a fair amount of heartbreak in the songs, an illegitimate conception/birth or two and some harsh language around to boot, "Jenny Nettles" being a good example to bring to the fore. It has that fiery passion that only tangled emotions seems to evoke.

For me, one of the most interesting compositions on the album is "Surtsey", a song about the spectacular and violent birth of that volcanic island, starting off with the perspective of a Scottish fisherman. It's not a subject I can recall hearing in song before and if I have it was as eloquent as this

It's been a while since I've been so absorbed by an album that has featured this much harp. As I said at the start there is a real balance between voice and string that gives "Leverage" a real sense of occasion, one which I can easily recommend.

Neil King