Dauphin

Matt Norris and the Moon are one of the best folk acts in Edinburgh. They, along with Bear Bones and Chasing Owls, put on a wicked show at Sneaky Pete’s last year. You can find that review here.

That picture above, if I’ve done my maths right, was taken on the stretch of the Flodden Wall that links Lauriston Place with the Grassmarket. Anyway, they’ve got a new single out, right now this moment.

It’s a four-track EP called This Kingdom. It’s an update on their previous work; they’ve broadly kept the folk instrumentation and twee-pop feel – the “tight harmonies, energetic guitar rhythms, trumpet and fiddle melodies, driving double bass lines” with which they characterise themselves are still intact – but there seems to be an extra shot of energy in this. It’s polished, refined, and on these four tracks you really hear them spread their wings.

If you’ve not encountered Matt Norris and the Moon in the long grass of the Scottish music scene, then I expect you’ll be pleasantly surprised. They’re an act that typifies the folk scene in the central belt; experimenting by reinventing traditional folk arrangements, not simply using them as a vehicle for whimsy.

The upward explosion of flutes on Shadow From The Sun is the perfect example of this; it completely surprised me after coming from the lovely, but safe Roots Below, and I’m not sure I’ve heard something quite like it for a while. Perhaps flutes are the new banjos.

To conclude; I completely endorse this. It’s great. Make some more, please.