Trespass

“Alex plays bloody wonderfully,” said the late great John Renbourn, of Pentangle fame, and here’s a new set that proves how right he was. Roberts is no newcomer – he’s been playing for over two decades and released a dozen albums – so it’s perhaps surprising that he’s not even better known. He’s both a folk revivalist and a singer-songwriter whose work invites comparison with the guitar greats and singer-songwriters of the 60s folk revival. The traditional tracks include ‘John Barleycorn’, here treated to a brave, atmospheric and epic new treatment, showing off both his layered guitar work and no-nonsense rough-hewn vocals. He succeeds equally well on a brooding version of another much-covered song, ‘She Moved Through the Fair’, while the harmonica-backed treatment of ‘Rosemary Lane’ is a fine piece of storytelling. He applies the same skills to his own songs, which include the jaunty and defiant title-track, and ‘Cathedral Bells’, which matches gently intense and personal lyrics with delicate guitar work.