Shorelines

Even from just the first few notes of ‘Sunflower Delight’, the opening track on this confident album, it is clear that we are safe in the hands of two very capable and virtuosic musicians. On this track the duo play around with beat and rhythm, making simple time seem more complex and giving us the choice of either trying to follow them or of surrendering to the task. The rest of the album contains similar, and mainly original, tunes with a couple of trad ones thrown in for good measure.

Emilyn Stam is a fine fiddler and pianist from Canada, while Filippo Gambetta cut his accordion teeth in his native Italy. The pair met at Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 2003 and 13 years later started this duo project in Gambetta's hometown, Genoa. The result of this transatlantic pairing is a curious mix of North American fiddle styles with Italian and pan-European influences. The second track, ‘Aneto’ is a Scandinavian-inspired polska, there is a set of original bourées and an Italian circle dance. While this record falls mainly into the folk category, it contains snippets of jazz and classical arrangement techniques, which help to create a truly inspiring experience.