Scots duo of Paul Tasker and Iona Macdonald have quietly been making a name for themselves on the Scottish folk circuit for a few years, but this, their second album looks likely to attract them wider attention.
While their geographical roots may be in Scotland, the music they play has much wider influences, and has much in common with the days of the 70s folk revival, and comparisons with Fairport Convention and Pentangle, whilst not entirely accurate are probably a good place to start. Mix this in with a little of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and the picture should begin to piece together.
Tasker plays acoustic guitar in a style that is obviously influenced by the style of Bert Jansch, and he’s equally able at understated picking accompaniment (‘The Highwayman’) as he is at driving rhythmic pieces (‘Thunder of the Dawn’). He’s unquestionably a versatile and highlight skilled player, but the beauty is that he never overplays, there are certainly some moments where his playing stands out as being exceptional, but it’s always part of the bigger picture of the song and never just for show.
Vocals are exclusively from Iona, who sings in a plaintive manner and delivers the lyrics with effortless clarity and ease; the balance between her vocals and the guitar work allows both to shine equally.
The duo add a small amount of other instrumentation in to the mix with Hammond and Wurlitzer, bass and percussion all adding subtle colour to the overall sound, but staying in the background to highlight the skills of Tasker and Macdonald.
‘This Broken Key’ has an almost timeless feel to it, it could certainly have been written and recorded any time in the past 40 years or so, but it still has a fresh and subtle contemporary edge – this is an album of real quality in both the writing and performances.
Track listing
1 Atonement
2 Woodstock
3 Trouble Gathering
4 Thunder of the Dawn
5 Twisted Wheel
6 The Rain
7 Blue Moon on the Mountain
8 Any Kind of Love
9 Survival
10 Evermore
11 Devil in Me
12 The Highwayman
