Warp & Weft

This album is a debut from a duo of multi-instrumentalists Mike Cosgrave and Steve Banks. Built on fiddle (Banks) and accordion (Cosgrave), but including guitar, Hardanger fiddle, vocals and more, the Devon-based pair's music draws on a similarly diverse range of traditional and contemporary folk. Warp & Weft features a ballad from Devon and Cornwall wrapped in a Breton waltz; a Gypsy-style set of tunes from Russia and Macedonia; a ballad by Norway's Annbjørg Lien; and even a James Scott Skinner set. This magpie-like approach might be messy under other fingers, but Cosgrave and Banks are both gifted interpreters and technically adept musicians.

Each track catches an essence, from the pathos of the Annbjørg Lien tune ‘Tjønneblomen’ and Skinner's ‘Herr Roloff's Farewell’ to the joyful set of tunes by Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer, one of the few moments on the record when the instrumentation grows beyond the duo format (with subtle accordion touches behind the guitar accompaniment). Only perhaps the two original pieces – one by each artist – pale against the rest of the collection. Nevertheless, a budding artistic partnership in the making.