Album Review: Urban Folk Quartet - Off Beaten Tracks (Self Release)

Multi-influenced cross-genre music at its best, The Urban Folk Quartet stretch the boundaries further with their latest release OFF BEATEN TRACKS. Following their self-titled 2010 debut, together with a stunning limited-edition live album, their second studio album is a mixture of the two, studio recordings of songs played on the road. Recorded in the midst of their recent world tour, OFF BEATEN TRACKS encompasses the spirit and energy of those live appearances with ten tightly arranged songs and tunes. From the Latin rhythms of Jaleo Bus/Up in the Air, the immediately captivating reading of Dink's Song, through to the utter inventiveness of The Missing Jig, OFF BEATEN TRACKS demonstrates precisely how to take elements of various musical styles in order to create something tantalisingly refreshing and new. 

Borne out of the bustling Birmingham scene, the quartet featuring Joe Broughton and Paloma Trigas on twin fiddles, Frank Moon on guitar and oud and last but by no means least Tom Chapman on percussion, are taking giant steps in order to further the potential of acoustic music. With the material on this album, the Urban Folk Quartet once again keep us delightfully engaged with some wickedly adventurous stuff.