Cormorant

Accordionist Nat Brookes lives on a narrowboat, so has watched many a cormorant and noticed that there's no knowing, when one dives, where it will surface. She applies this observation to her own compositions and reworking of dance tunes. She sets off in ‘Mushroom Vent’ leading the listener with a slow exposition of the tune but, having segued into ‘Cormorant’, seven minutes later, at the end, the listener surfaces sonically somewhere surprising.

Brookes achieves this by turning the tables on those classical composers – Vaughan Williams, Béla Bartók and George Butterworth – who drew on folk music. She studied music at York University and brings the techniques of classical composition to the folk, particularly dance, tunes that she loves. Her arrangements are meticulous: she asks a lot of Sam Partridge's flute playing in ‘Ultra Breath’ and entangles this with Deb Chalmers’ viola in ‘The Good Old Way’. She has Tom Evans’ guitar introduce ‘Nat's Groovy Tune’, running through the melody for a minute before the accordion and fiddle come in.

Brookes wrote ‘Mushroom Interval’ having forgotten to serve the mushrooms she’d cooked for breakfast, offering them for elevenses instead. It's a joyous jig and this is a joyous and witty album. She loves a mazurka, too – always a good sign.