Hunter & the Hunted

Fans of the softer, gentler side of the neo-folk Americana spectrum will be enthralled by Hunter & the Hunted, the debut album by Dani Aubert and Ian Van Ornum, who met each other while playing with the Oregon-based acoustic ensemble Patchy Sanders. There is a charming candle-lit intimacy permeating the ten original compositions, which cover standard themes of family and friends, love and death, longing and remembrance. The duo's delicately balanced harmony singing is complemented by an array of instruments including clawhammer banjo, mandolin, guitar, bouzouki and hurdy-gurdy. The hurdy-gurdy's droning sound is applied with particular effectiveness on the Gaelic-style lament ‘Dear Ones’, which also features Aubert's signature technique of singing into the banjo body, producing a haunting echo effect. Another standout track, ‘Chaunti Sea’, highlights the extraordinarily supple nature of Aubert and Ornum's artistic expression on a rollicking variation on the familiar English shanty form.