Lau are one of folk’s supergroups and Aidan O’Rourke, Kris Drever and Martin Green have been playing together in this format for more than a decade – the album title notes the period since their first full album release, Lightweights and Gentlemen. This being folk, where the audience connection is strong, they asked their fans to suggest favourite tracks from the four studio albums they’ve released and Decade is the chronological selection from those suggestions.
For fans, it shows the band’s progression, as they became more experimental: opener Unquiet Grave is traditional in sound and lyric, probably the most traditional track on here, though Lau’s distinctive sound (chiefly through Green’s accordion) is evident. Track two is Hinba, an instrumental featuring O’Rourke’s violin, which starts off traditional but then builds and repeats before going a bit epic. Four tracks in and you get Lang Set, which lives up to its name: 14 minutes of Lau pushing the boundaries while playing a good tune. Probably a must for fans and a get introduction for novices.
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