WITH two fine albums under their collective belts and a third in the offing, this trio of super talented young women once again demonstrated a delicacy of touch and a deftness of style in their harmonies and music that has led to them being one of the most in-demand groups at folk festivals right now.

The repertoire for the evening swung between their first two albums in the first half, with a mixture of haunting, vivid renditions of songs such as The Crow On The Cradle through a selection of their diddling – songs sung in a repetitive and resonating nonsense form that allows the evocation of emotion and mood without formal language – and a selection of ballads delved from historic tradition.

Their performance is most arresting when the fine three part harmonies are tightest, as in the upside down and wrong way round Nottaman Fair, but the loosely woven The Grey Selkie, a pulling together of many variants of an old tale, offers an almost mesmeric thread of voice and harp.

The second half of the performance offered more of their own work – a wonderfully cheerful Song for the Morning and an equally wonderful but more sombre lullaby and a lot more diddling.

All three are accomplished performers and use their skills on harp, accordion, fiddle and the unusual bansitar to great effect, mixing them with unusual percussion effects from Hannah’s clogs to Hazel’s ankle bells.

I look forward to the release of album number three, as do the rest of the audience from last night’s show if the calls for encore and the rapturous applause were anything to go by.

Review by Alison Spaven