Anchoress

Where the world of early music meets traditional folk is where you'll find the likes of Wilde Roses and Mediaeval Baebes, and more specifically, singer Anna Tam, who accompanies herself on nyckelharpa, viola da gamba, hurdy-gurdy and cello on her first solo set of songs, Anchoress, comprising 13 traditional songs and two originals, drawn from English, Irish and Scottish traditions.

Recorded in lockdown on a canal boat that's also her home, it opens with ‘Jenny Nettles’, a grim story of outlaws, love, abandonment, suicide by hanging and burial at a forest crossroads. ‘Tarry Trousers’ follows, the dialogue of a mother and daughter on matters amorous, ending with a classic spot of transvestism as young Polly pledges to join her beloved Jamie on his ship, sporting the eponymous impossible-to-resist trowsers. Tam's fine, clear, classically trained voice carries the story against the rhythmic accompaniment of solo cello, and it's one of many striking vocals here, whether the tale of a mourning lover disturbing the peace of his sweetheart's final resting place on ‘The Unquiet Grave’ or an unaccompanied ‘She Moved Through the Fair’. Her two instrumental tunes, ‘Fairy Boat Hornpipe’ and ‘The Goblet’, step up to the mark, too, on this distinctive and welcome solo debut.