What's going on in Cambridge

Seth Lakeman

If he doesn't stop soon Seth Lakeman will be the crowned king of modern folk. He must surely already be due a note in the history books, having supported and performed with not only his two brothers, but two of folk's loveliest ladies, Cara Dillon and Kate Rusby. His recently released album, Hearts and Minds, will take him up to five, all of them successful and acclaimed. So yeah, basically, we love him a bit.

It was in celebration of the new album that Itchy saw Seth perform at the Jazz Cafe in Camden, and it certainly felt like a party. There is something about his music that gets people moving. Not jumping around or anything but kind of roused. When we arrived there were still grouchy looking suits/partners/plus ones standing stagnantly near the bar. By the end we didn't spy a single one, and it wasn't because they left. It's because with this sort of performance, you can't help but at least stamp your feet along.

We were suitably impressed by the new album content, with its slightly rockier edge, particularly the album's title track for the ballsy fiddle riffs, but admittedly it was the older favourites, such as Seth's lone rendition of the emotive Kitty Jay, that made us want to skip around barefoot. Which, incidentally, we actually did a bit.

There's no doubt that Lakeman, as well as the rest of his band, is sickeningly talented. He has that mastery of instruments and quality of voice that Westlife can barely dream of. In fact bearing witness to such obvious ability does make you wonder why we end up listening to auto-tuned chart garbage 90% of the time. We won't be doing it much longer.

www.sethlakeman.co.uk

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