In the five years since they released their debut album Beneath Our Humble Soil, the Cambridge-based band The Willows have built up a reputation as a richly talented collective, a shape-shifting musical entity with a magpie approach to genre and an exhilarating line in live performances. Even at this early stage in their career, it is tempting to draw comparisons with bands like Fairport Convention, who made a career out of adapting to new forms of music and new band members while keeping a sound that was always both fresh and instantly recognisable. And while comparisons like these may seem like overstatements, a few minutes in the company of The Willows’ new album ‘Through the Wild’ should be more than enough to convince you otherwise, for there is more than a passing resemblance between them and their illustrious predecessors.

They take their influences from both sides of the Atlantic, they have a rambunctious, danceable approach to traditional music, and they are not afraid to turn up the amps and sacrifice a few sacred cows along the way [ . . . ]

Continue this review at FRUK: The Willows: Through the Wild (Featured Album Review) | Folk Radio UK