Dinas

After performing an impressive showcase when the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards was hosted in Cardiff this April, this spirited young Welsh band are enhancing their growing reputation with a third album whose title is inspired by Dinas Emrys, a mountain in Gwynedd, North Wales. Legend has it that two sleeping dragons would occasionally awaken and cause some mayhem, until a nine-year-old magician called Merlin put an end to their shenanigans. Calan are clearly fond of this tale, as the album opens and closes with blistering tellings of it: ‘Tale of Two Dragons’ and ‘Chwedl y Ddwy Ddraig’. In between, the set boasts the kind of energetic routines you might expect from a group whose website offers up a ‘clog step of the month.’ But it also features a number of haunting ballads, with the vocals of Bethan Rhiannon Williams-Jones strikingly tender on their version of ‘A Miner's Life’ and notably jazzy on ‘Giggly’. Much has been made of just how impressive so many young folk bands are these days and Calan are another fine example.