Cicada Ball

The Boxcar Boys aren’t all that they seem. They aren’t all boys, for one thing: two of the sextet are female; namely the accordionist Kelsey McNulty and fiddle player Laura C Bates. The band play old-time New Orleans music with many twists – touches of klezmer, Gypsy jazz and numerous Americana styles – but hail not from the Big Easy but Toronto. Cicada Ball absolutely flies along from its first moment, the 1918 classic ‘Hindustan’, propelled by Rob Teehan's sousaphone. Most tracks here are self-penned, the lion's share by clarinettist John David Williams, from the woozy, klezmer march of ‘Shakin’ Off the Cobwebs’ to the title-track, which features a breathtakingly jaunty solo. There are many other impressive instrumental feats, well overshadowing the rather part-time vocal performances (three players pitch in), which nevertheless bring life to songs such as the classic ‘I’ve Got That Old Fashioned Love in My Heart’. Despite the jolliness, there is a flash of steel in the polish of the instrumental performances here, as well as a palpable love of the music.