Folk

The latest releases reviewed.

CHRIS WOOD Trespasser Ruf Records ****

Abrasive and unapologetically jaded by the political sleights of hand that define England in the noughties, Chris Wood has produced yet another magnificent snapshot in time: an elegant, handcrafted thing of beauty that earns its keep by revealing yet another layer of riches with every successive exposure. Kicking against the traces of "enclosure", as Woods describes it, this is a concept album with a difference: thematically unified, but musically as diverse as a night sky chock-full of lightning bolts. Razor-sharp observations on the rewriting of history and the odd relevance of medieval folk tales (England in Ribbons) share space with a homage to the great English poet John Clare, against the sparest of arrangements. A skewed celebration of life's minor chords. www.englishacousticcollective.org.uk SIOBHÁN LONG

Download track: England in Ribbons