Review Corner

Basco are a Danish folk band playing complex Celtic-influenced folk with added accordion, the latter contributing a touch of whimsy.

The band is Ale Carr (cittern), Andrea Tophoj (violin, viola), Hal Parfitt-Murray (violin mandolin, vocals) and Anders Ringgaard Andersen (accordion, trombone) so the instrumentation means they sound like a less driven Seth Lakeman, and with less singing. It’s a traditional sound — perhaps too traditional for anyone used to the pop/rock of Lakeman, though they have a whiff of The Decemberists about them.

Opening track The Way of the Flesh is as good as any, a very old sounding piece. Elsewhere, there are only two songs, Patrick Spens being the best, while there are lots of Scottish folk instrumentals of varying tempos. If Basco have a thing (we’d say USP but that would make us sound like idiots off The Apprentice) it’s the complexity of the arrangements; it’s all very musical. Perhaps more aimed at the pure folk market than the pop/folk.