Interesting Times

‘There is no escaping it. We live in the sort of times that will be referred to by historians as ‘interesting.’ Change is coming,' observes Hal Parfitt-Murray, who is the founding member, violin and mandolin player, as well as occasional vocalist of Basco. The Danish group have rapidly gained quite a reputation for their high-energy, somewhat madcap, live shows and last year's raucous The Remarkable Return of Old Man Basco was an impressive and energetic but slightly scattershot effort. Interesting Times, however, seems a much more disciplined affair, a relatively lilting and reflective successor.
It has made it distinctly easier to appreciate the delicacy and detail, as much as the combined playfulness and energy of Parfitt-Murray, Anders Tophøj (violin and viola), Anders Ringgaard Andersen (accordion and trombone) and Ale Carr (cittern), throughout a largely self-penned set that also boasts powerful variants on the traditional tracks ‘Patrick Spens’ and ‘The Three Mothers’.