Seth Lakeman
Tales from the Barrel House
Release Date: Apr 2, 2012
Genre(s): Folk
Record label: Honour Oak
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Album Review: Tales from the Barrel House by Seth Lakeman
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Over recent albums Lakeman has stretched the crossover potential of his fiddle-based folk to snapping point, playing ever fiercer, more muscular variants of his west country tales. Unhitched from a major label, he has opted for a starker, more contemplative approach and sounds the better for it. Recorded in a disused cooperage, with opener "More Than Money" captured in a copper mine, Lakeman's tales of Devon working lives echo atmospherically, his fiddle, guitar and banjo bolstered by clanked chains and a thumped Sally Army drum.
Opinion: Very Good
A fine, genuinely solo sixth LP from the Devon-born folk artist. Colin Irwin 2012 The 00s were a mad time for Seth Lakeman. Recorded in his brother’s kitchen for about a halfpenny, his Kitty Jay album of 2004 won him a surprise Mercury Prize nomination which launched the surreal merry-go-round that only a major label can bring – supermarket promos, breakfast TV slots, major rock festival slots – as Lakeman became the nearest thing modern Brit folk is ever likely to get to a teen idol.
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