Gilmore And Roberts

Gilmore & Roberts are previous nominees for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and have built up a solid reputation in their homeland of the UK and across Europe and North America. This is partly down to their dynamic live show, where their entwining voices are used to full effect. This is their fourth album together and here Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts have pulled together a collection of eleven songs that touch a similar theme - conflict.

Gilmore says that conflict is universal and touches everyone at some point every day (there's even a track called Warmonger) but of course we are not just talking about Syria or Afghanistan here. Conflicting emotions adorn the album, like on the delightful She Doesn't Like Silence, where Gilmore sounds like her namesake Thea as she reflects that her subject "doesn't like silence and hates it too loud". The pair describe themselves as tour guides of these traditional folk tales, digging deep to share tales of miners searching for Blue John (Stumble On The Seam) or a 19th century woman from Barnsley who it was believed brought locals good luck (Peggy Airey).

The sound drifts somewhere between the kind of poppier folk of Seth Lakeman and the more traditional west-country feel, with the opening Cecelia hitting the spot perfectly with its punchy rhythm, while Selfish Man is less strident but equally catchy. Produced by Mark Tucker this as an album of strong intent from one of the UK's brightest folk duos.