When We Fly

Hartwin Dhoore and his younger brother, Ward, are a duo from Rodeland in Belgium. They take their name, Siger, from Siger den Rode who was the first landlord of the region, and their music is rooted in Flemish tradition. They have, though, toured internationally for 15 years and being on the road in Scotland, the US and Germany has influenced their tunes.

Hartwin plays a three-row diatonic accordion; Ward, the mandola. There is a pleasing interplay between these instruments; in the opening track ’Orchard Breeze’ Hartwin’s squeezebox evokes a zephyr stirring the trees, Ward’s mandola the fluttering of leaves.

Hartwin makes interesting use of his accordion’s bass, creating sonorous drones and chordal backgrounds, in ‘Linus’ for instance, over which Ward’s mandola flourishes melodically. At other points, as on the penultimate track, ‘Airboys’, they match each other precisely, note for note.

Their melodies are lovely, their playing expert and the album is enjoyable. But Siger’s music is only occasionally exciting, rarely wild. The title-track, though, is a whirring of wings and, in the slow middle section, a gentle gliding. Hartwin and Ward share the close understanding of siblings and here they do, musically, fly.