Live at the Old Barn, Kelston Roundhill

This first live album from the Bristol trio of Alex Vann, Pete Judge and Paul Bradley is also a recording of the first concert to be performed at the Old Barn on Kelston Roundhill, a prominent landmark in this notoriously low-lying Somerset country. As such, it is the most intimate of live albums, with the clapping of individual audience members clearly audible on the recording.

The trio create light, delicate little meditations, often little over a minute long, with earnest titles such as ‘The Bronze Sounding’, ‘Cassiopeia’ and ‘Gurney's Interlude’. It is pleasant enough listening, with almost the air of classical folk; the layers of sound are built from a vast array of instruments including bowed psaltery, bouzouki, zither, lyre, glockenspiel and miniature harp. Just when the album is starting to feel a little too ethereal and aimless, up pops ‘No Palace, No Gold’, a Jon Hamp poem read over the musicians’ sensitive backing. This is followed soon after by ‘3am July 5th 1643 (Penda's Fen)’. Both are beautifully recited and the poetry is arresting and leaves a lasting impression. In cahoots with Jon Hamp, Three Cane Whale might just have a recipe for something more exciting.