Weird and Wonderful Tales

French multi-instrumentalists Maria Laurent and Gautier Degandt specialise in hard-core acoustic folk, given a rock attitude, although still operating within a sparse, minimalist setting. A fondness for seafaring songs is clear, as well as an attachment to vintage country blues, but they also have ears for pop accessibility. The pair's English singing sounds awkward and mannered rather than poised and charming, with Degandt in particular choosing to combine a NYC punk accent with his Tom Waits impersonation. Both of them play the Mongolian tovshuur (lute), and Laurent wields banjo on most songs. Degandt wheezes brusque bass harmonica on two numbers, and both of them pluck various thumb pianos, to good effect on ‘Sarakiniko’, with its Greek aulos (reed pipes) blaring at the close.

The duo explore some unusual instrumental marriages, but their actual singing and songwriting is their weakest element. Degandt is completely Waitsian on ‘Buffalo 7’, while the two-part ‘Trouble All the Time’ sounds like The Fall's ‘Rowche Rumble’, as well as having a declared affinity to ‘Bob Lee Junior's Blues’, by The Memphis Jug Band. The closing ‘Ring of Fire’ is an unimaginative choice, albeit in a pleasingly sparse reading.