The Morning Tempest

Having recently picked up Radio 2's Young Folk Award, Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente have released their debut album, and a rather sweet and cherishable thing it is too. It's a nicely accomplished selection of songs both traditional and new. There is a rare mix of ideas here – songs have been carefully chosen to reflect the various influences of the duo. ‘King Orfeo’ is a confident and tastefully rendered version of the trad classic while ‘The Great Escape’ highlights Duncan's talents as a songwriter, tinged with a country flavour. Maintaining the album's eclectic nature, there is a flugelhorn on ‘He Fades Away’, before the album concludes with ‘Potato Puirt’ a fun little puirt à beul (mouth music) piece. The pibroch (Scottish pipe tune) ‘Uamh An Oir’ is a beautiful gem of a song; featuring just Duncan's voice and Lafuente's guitar, it is possibly the highlight of the album.

The Morning Tempest is an impressive debut, demonstrating some accomplished musicianship and arrangements, all superbly topped by Duncan's beguiling voice. It's a confident mix of influences and captures a duo at the very start of a promising career. One to watch.