Lauded for projects expertly blending tradition and modernity, Dave Malkin (Dipper Malkin) and Louis Campbell (Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell) come together to explore and reframe their instrument, the guitar, and its role in English traditional music.

Their debut EP, Bird On A Briar, journeys through melodies from centuries-old manuscripts and the aural tradition, reclaiming arrangements from the English Pastoral School and celebrating the musical idiosyncrasies of England, highlighting the exquisite result of a thousand years of migration and cultural collision, all through a thoroughly contemporary lens. The result is refreshingly considered yet pure, documenting the pair’s attention to detail in arrangement, harmony, tone and phrasing with no overdubs, trickery or gimmicks. Their two flat-top acoustic guitars bloom in the natural reverberance of a church hall in South East London, captured by Malkin’s long-time collaborator Tom Moore.

The outcome of a late night conversation between Moya Sweeney and Archie Churchill-Moss led to the decision to create a new body of music exploring the similarities and differences between the Irish and mainland European accordion traditions. Revered artists in their own right, with extensive performance experience across the UK and Europe, these musicians met in Derry in 2023 and quickly realised their combined approach to composition complimented each other. The result is a collection of contemporary instrumental music written to be performed on two accordions.

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