The Basement - Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs

Northern Irish troubadours The Basement took their time putting together their first album 'Illicit Hugs and Playground Thugs' (four years of it), and their patience has been rewarded with the kind of folk music that's as timeless and resilient as the stones of Giant's Causeway. Singer-songwriter John Mullin inherits the mantle of Shane McGowan in his sharply-observed, earnestly delivered, anecdotal lyrics, backed by a group well-versed in folk musicianship. The Basement's relocation to Liverpool is evident in some very 'cosmic scouse' guitar flourishes (as on Autumn's Gone), but the essence of the music – the sullen authenticity of Mullin combined with the detailed finger-picking arrangements – is inescapably evocative of their mother country and its no-nonsense musical ethos. The Basement may not be doing anything new, but the songs on 'Illicit Hugs' are true and unsentimental in the way that good folk music should be. [Nick Mitchell]