By the Night

With their 2016 debut Call Me Home, the folk trio of Christina Alden, Alex Patterson and Noel Dashwood applied the adjective ‘homespun’ holistically, not only writing and producing the self-released disc at home in Norwich but also housing it in handmade covers, designed and hand-printed by the band. This new album adopts an equally artisan approach, with a limited-edition cover even boasting a hand-drawn, pop up scene of Norwich. That's all rather quaint and endearing of course, but it wouldn't really matter a jot if the music thus produced and packaged wasn't just as interesting. Delicately weaving rich vocal harmonies, fiddle, dobro and guitar into a mix of erudite originals (inspired by books such as The Time Traveler's Wife and The Night Circus) with traditional tunes from both the US and the UK, By the Night is the sort of recording that gently and gradually entices the listener to lean in so as to immerse themselves in its coy joys rather than overtly engaging them from the outset. Not everyone might be prepared to make that effort of course, but those who do will be rewarded.