JENN & LAURA-BETH - Bound
Private Label JBLB01
Bound is the debut CD from a duo that has been working together now for about 8 years. Each of the pair also has a successful career with other acts - most notably Laura-Beth Salter is a founding member of The Shee, whilst, recently, Jenn Butterworth picked up a BBC Folk Award as part of Songs Of Separation.
There’s a mixture of covers here, ranging from the catchy Jean Ritchie song, Let The Sun Shine Down On Me, to Boo Hewardine’s Wings On My Heels, as well as their own original material. Jenn provides excellent guitar with Laura-Beth showing just how good she is on mandolin. Both sing with a clarity and pureness of sound that makes it, at times, difficult to work out who is taking the lead. In fact, the whole recording has this clarity about it, almost a live sound, and praise must go to Keir Long for his work here.
In my opinion there is not a bad track on Bound, and it is a really enjoyable recording that shows off the duo to their best. I love their arrangement of Bert Jansch’s If I Had A Lover, for the way there is a freshness about it. They have resisted the temptation to add lots of other instruments to the mix and the whole CD is all the better for this. Let’s hope it isn’t another eight years before we are treated to the follow-up to Bound.
www.jennandlb.com
Dave Beeby
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Many CDs we review are available from The Listening Post. Check to see if this CD is available. The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 119 of The Living Tradition magazine. |