Starling

With Thierry Nouat on hurdy-gurdy, Toon van Mierlo on bagpipes, accordion and saxophone, Aurélien Claranbaux on accordion and Jeroen Geerinck on mandola and keyboards, Novar's second album boasts nine punchily recorded, original instrumentals, sounding thoroughly contemporary yet with their roots in Flemish, French and English traditions. The churning and sprightly ‘Savagnin – Le Chabris’ is credited to Nouat, with the others penned by Van Mierlo, but all are potent demonstrations of their ‘bits of trad, bits of electro’ credo. The four of them seemingly have a knack for melding their very different instruments into a unique sound that's greater than the sum of its parts and they are clearly an exceptionally close-knit unit. Not just musically, either – the only outside credit visible anywhere here goes to label-mate Ward Dhoore, of the excellent Trio Dhoore, for his sleeve artwork.