NORTH Eastern gypsy folk rock band Holy Moly & The Crackers introduce their new album, Salem, with a live launch party at the Great Yorkshire Fringe this weekend.

Featuring York vocalist Conrad Bird, the Crackers are heading into heavier, gutsier waters on a record produced by Matt Terry, mixed by Gethin Pearson and mastered by Nigel Watson for release on their own Pink Lane Records label.

Salem is a departure from their past, being a folk record only in so far as the newly darker, starker songs are built around a narrative; they have a driving, urgent beat to them too.

The title track defines the record."It is hard, perhaps irresponsible, to ignore the tectonic shifts in our political structures over the last two years," say the band. "It felt right to name the album after the song."

Pandora’s box has been opened and the monsters are coming out in lead vocalist Ruth Patterson's take on the 1692 witch trials of Salem: a metaphor for the dangerous mix of fear, ignorance and hysteria that is blowing up today.

Lyrically, the songs are steeped in references to baroque, superstitious practice and the dark arts – tarot, memento mori, witchcraft and hallucination – so perhaps it is fitting the album was recorded in a studio that was once a medieval chapel above a family tomb.

Tickets for Saturday's gig in York are on sale at greatyorkshirefringe.com or on 01904 500600.