Wild hog

"The second Collective album shows they have developed a compelling style and sound of their own. There are no unaccompanied songs this time, and they have added bass, and drums courtesy of the gently inventive Alex Neilson ... From Portman's harp and fiddle-backed Barbara Allen to Farrell's thrilling but gruesome Willie's Fatal Visit, and the exquisite harmony work on Many's the Night's Rest, it's a fresh, gently powerful set".

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"Each member of this quartet boasts their own place in the British folk scene, but is the group more than the sum of its parts? This second album gives a more convincing affirmation than their 2014 debut, with fine vocal harmonies and deft instrumental interplay testifying to intense teamwork ... They take turns to lead on a selection of antique balladry that veers between the jolly (an Appalachian-style title track) and the doomstruck (a neo-rock version of Willie's Fatal Visit) ... A winningly produced masterclass in folk tradition".

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"Back in the day they'd have been called a supergroup ... Unlike many such collaborations, they actually sound like a genuine meeting of minds who knit neatly into a natural, albeit oddball, unit. Kindred spirits all, they are not merely drawn to the weirdness of traditional song, but are inspired to waft ever-more dreamlike and bewitching spells around it ... They gently place their own quietly deranged mark on some of the tradition's more bizarre epics, from swan murder (Polly Vaughn) to sex, ghosts and defilement (Willie's Fatal Visit) and rape, defiance and childbirth (Prince Heathen) ... Intriguingly engrossing, insidiously disquieting".

"A couple of years' worth of gigs, rehearsals and recordings have moulded this group of singularly talented individuals (...) into a more cohesive unit - something distinctively "itself", dispelling any lingering perception of the Furrow Collective as just (!) being The Emily Portman Trio hanging out and playing trad songs with Alasdair Roberts. Here, the core quartet is bolstered by the addition of guest bassist Stevie Jones (Sound Of Yell) and drummer Alex Neilson (Trembling Bells) ... It's Neilsons urgent drumming that propels the opening "Wild Hog In The Woods", whilst his jazz-informed cymbal splashes on ʺPrince Heathen" (sung to harrowing perfection by [Rachel] Newton) evoke Terry Cox's peerless Pentangle work. Lucy Farrell sings the oft-covered "Polly Vaughn" over a startling arrangement of piano drones and "Devil's intervals" while her "Willie's Fatal Visit" is as elegant and engrossing a piece of British folk rock as has been heard in these parts for many's thelongyear ... Another contender for all those soon-to-come Folk Album of the Year lists".