All Covered with Moss

All Covered with Moss, the debut offering from Detroit, Michigan-based duo Alison Perkins and Nicolas Brown, arrives as the pair near the end of their first decade together. Despite their youth, the performing accent here is unapologetically old-fashioned. It's a pleasing quality, underscored by Perkins’ dexterous and authentically jaunty fiddle and Brown's keening flat-pitched uilleann pipes and bright, dancing flute. The result is an agreeable set. ‘The Kitten’ makes playful use of Brown's mewling pipes. Pertly poetic polkas such as the moody ‘I Have Two Yellow Goats’ and ‘The Yellow Cow’ frame a nimble rendering of ‘Paddy Cronin's’, a piece some might otherwise know as ‘You Broke My Cup and Saucer’. Rousing reels make the most of Perkins’ characterful bowing and Brown's imaginative interrogation of both pipes and flute. Perkins also sports a low-set voice that sounds securely rooted in sean-nós style on the darkly romantic ‘The Gypsies’. Michael Gavin's bouzouki is a welcome guest on three tracks.

Throughout the release, there is a solid sense of ensemble and reciprocity – this is a duo that listens to each other, responding in the moment with structure and spontaneity; blissfully at one in their loose and elastic athleticism.