Old Adam

Hield's third album follows the success of The Full English project, and while the previous Looking Glass and Orfeo explored rich mythical and folkloric themes, for this she draws on sources she immersed herself in for The Full English – as well as a cover of Tom Waits’ ‘The Briar and the Rose’, and an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's ‘Anchor Song’. Her backing band, Hurricane Party, is a crack unit – including Ron Harbron and Sam Sweeney of Leveret, Ben Nicholls on bass, and guest turns from Jon Boden and Martin Simpson.

Hield's vocal delivery is similar to Maddy Prior's, in terms of how she emphasises the song's rhythm in the vocal line; it's occasionally strident, mostly dramatic. The opening trio, ‘Green Gravel’, ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’ and ‘Katie Catch’ are strong and engaging statements of purpose, and the likes of ‘Jack Orion’, set to a driving fiddle and percussion arrangement, and the singalong chorus of ‘Long Time Ago’, should prove strong concert staples. ‘Go From My Window’ is spare and focused, and the Tom Waits cover sails away in a massed chorus before a reprise of the title-track, wheezing in on Rob Harbron's concertina, fastening the seal on this music box.