Lilting Folk
Seth Lakeman's name first rose from the underground (or rather his secluded corner of Dartmoor) last year when he was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, that prolific award which highlights such hardworking unknowns and offers their work a more favourable stage in the mainstream.
Lakeman's folk creations are pretty much what you would expect: plenty of twanging acoustic guitarwork intertwining mixed with soaring vocals in an earthy, back to basics set up. There are upbeat numbers like 'Setting Of The Sun' which inimitably cheerful and 'Band Of Gold' which embodies freshness with its playful guitars. Nature is of course a common theme, 'The White Hare' positively skips along painting the image of a woman as a white hare, "She's dancing in the night, she'll be out til the morning with her eyes burning bright".
'The Colliers' has a compulsive syncopated rhythm that leaps from the stereo with jingling strings twinkling in this tale of struggles in rural Britain, 'King and Country' ploughs similar furrows with an understated key lyric, "For king and country I'll come back again", tender female vocals embellish this charming song.
'Childe The Hunter' has a refreshing dark rhythm with the dancing violin enchanting the listener, while '1643' with its chant of "These four walls are at the heart of the kingdom" feels a little too medieval and monarchistic for a modern listener.
'The Charmer' is a tale of unbridled passion, with the simplistic instruments adding extra emotion to the sparkling tale and perhaps the opposite, doubt-ridden side of the elegant and buoyant opener, 'Lady Of The Sea'
An ode to times past and gentler, 'Freedom Fields' is folk at its most raw and fails to compromise its integrity to widen its audience, the tunes are airy, lush and tell very real and tangible tales. There is no doubt that this is a fine album, but against the contemporary trends it is unlikely to get a look in.