The Imagined Village’s second album, follows and improves upon the 2007 debut in every way – rather than being a somewhat random melting pot of influences and ideas, this disc has grown from that loose collective into a more focused group of 10 artists that feel more like a cohesive band.

The wide ranging world influences are still there, but it’s all toned down a little and the disc has a darker tone, much of this is down to the material as it’s mainly reworked folk music, but the arrangements are less upbeat – the end result is that it makes the disc a much easier album to listen to than the debut.

The group of ten are Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Chris Wood, Simon Emmerson, Barney Morse Brown, Sheema Mukerjhee, Johnny Kalsi, Andy Gangadeen, Ali Friend and Simon Richmond, and are joined by a handful of other musicians across the 11 songs – notably Jackie Oates who provides a superb vocal for ‘Lark in the Morning’.
Elsewhere, Martin Carthy provides a bleak reworking of ‘Cum on Feel the Noize’ and Chris Wood does the same to tone down ‘Scarborough Fair’.

Track listing
1 My Son John
2 Sweet Jane
3 Space Girl
4 Byker Hill
5 Scarborough Fair
6 Mermaid
7 The Hand Weaver And The Factory Maid
8 The Lark In The Morning
9 Rose Buds In June / Mrs Preston's Hornpipe
10 Cum On Feel The Noize
11 Scarborough Fair (strings)

£12.99