Evergreen

Sheffield three-piece Auka make an agreeable debut on disc with Evergreen, a self-penned collection of Celtic folk-influenced pieces for flute and whistles (Kirsty Lomax), acoustic guitar (Matt Gilchrist), double bass, electric bass, piano and additional guitar (Joss Mann-Hazell). Formed at the beginning of 2020, the trio play with an already easy and fluid sense of ensemble.

Lomax’s airy, eloquent whistles are to the fore, pleasingly so, having something of Armagh man Brian Finnegan’s lightness of touch and liquid breath. She’s heard to good effect on the guitar-accompanied ‘Glentress/Lee Pen’, agilely shifting from lilting introspection to air-borne flights of fancy. A constant throughout is Gilchrist’s jewelled guitar, weaving indelibly around the ambient bird sounds and fearsomely low whistles reminiscent of Michael McGoldrick on ‘Snake Pass’ towards its slinky, serpentine ending. All ten tracks take their inspiration from the landscape and hills surrounding Sheffield, the over-riding impression is one of heartfelt pastoral repose. The pretty as a picture title-track sets the watercolour tone of much of what follows. ‘Brook’ a liquescent evocation of a flowing stream with Mann-Hazell’s double bass a pulsing undercurrent occasionally breaking the surface. Excellent recorded sound adds to the pleasure of a welcome introduction to the ethereal sound-world of Auka.