Solomon

This young Welsh five-piece sing in a mixture of Welsh and English, draw on the folklore of Celtic Wales, and mix traditional songs and tunes with originals such as the rollicking ‘Deportation Selfie’, inspired by a spell in a cell in Chicago airport as a result of US visa problems. The opening ‘Kan’ features the poetry of fiddle player Angharad Jenkins’ father Nigel, focused on the future of the Welsh language and culture, while ‘Apparition’ is inspired by the 18th-century folklorist Edmund Jones and his diary entries about the faery lore of Wales. The tunes are fleet and light on their feet, while anchored by group percussion and Bethan Rhiannon's powerful bass drum. They complement Jenkins’ fiddle, the harp of Alice French, the pipes and whistles of Patrick Rimes and Sam Humphreys’ guitar to create energetic, consummate big-hearted tunes. There's a more intimate, lyrical feel on ‘Hayes and Quinn's’, a wedding tune for friends of the band, and the lovely ‘Pe Cawn I Hon (If She Were Mine)’. It's a set that promises to deliver in spades in a live setting.