Fire Under the Bridge

This sextet of folk musicians came together in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in northern England, in the shadow of the mighty Tyne Bridge, and the spirit of the place infuses their band and music. They go by the name of the Roman fort of Newcastle – Pons Aelius – and their second studio album features today's Tyne Bridge in both its artwork and the title-track.

And what we have here is indeed Fire Under the Bridge. The album opens with the smoking title-track, led from the front by Jordan Aikin's driving pipes and whistles. There is much more high tempo stuff, leading to the rousing ‘The Durnamuck Deer Chase’ at the close. But there's plenty of texture, with the reflective ‘The Phantom Jake’ and ‘Charlie Smith's Recovery’ – a tune from New Zealand piper Alexander Taylor Cameron that is the only one on the album not composed by the band. Aside Aikin, Pons Aelius consists of Sam Partridge on flute and whistle, Tom Kimber on mandolin and tenor banjo, Alasdair Paul on guitar and bouzouki, Bevan Morris on double bass and Callum Younger on bodhrán. It's a hearty meal of an album.