Tiny rewards

"The Scottish quintet used to be what you could call a folk-rock band, but they got swept up in their own ambitions and waved goodbye to the Tree Bursts in Snow era, looking firmly forward, focused only on what was to come. Fast forward two years and just about the only recognisable things about the band's sound are the signature elements, to wit: Kevin Brolly's clarinet; Sarah Hayes' flute; and Louis Abbott's voice ... [Their] ideas are fleshed out via the most colourful instrumental line-up yet employed on an Admiral Fallow album, the staples of their sound augmented by synths, the woodwind instruments warped into new shapes, piano lines looped and married to ever-changing chords; influences ranging from the National's more grandiose material, through earlier Sufjan Stevens (nothing as sparse as Carrie And Lowell here), to the heyday of classic disco. No, really ... Front to back, this is their strongest record to date ... A glorious rebirth".

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