Seth Lakeman - Freedom Fields

Seth Lakeman is best-known as the Mercury prize judges' "Who?" nomination in 2005, a young singer-songwriter who's now being heralded as an icon for a traditional folk revival. 'Freedom Fields', his third album and first new release since that major PR coup, sounds awfully like a soundtrack to a Devon-based Hollywood amalgam of 'Braveheart' and Monty Python's 'The Holy Grail'. Over fiddling and strumming, banjo-picking and marching sounds, Lakeman sings about fighting for his King & country, soldiers on the run for inappropriately courting maidens, suns setting over the valley and other ye olde tyme tales. Four of these songs are built on traditional West Country yarns, and while his narratives are impressively constructed, the peculiar themes and earnest vocals will become tedious to all but the most determined folkies. [Ally Brown]