ACE turn-out for two of the most engaging performers on the folk circuit

SykesMartin at Ace Space, Newbury, on Friday, September 16. Review by GRAHAM HOBBS

SykesMartin is a new collaboration between well-known folk artists Miranda Sykes and Hannah Martin. Miranda (double bass, guitar, shruti box) is best known for playing with the duo Show of Hands, and Hannah (fiddle, tenor guitar, banjo) is one half of Edgelarks and now part of Peter Knight’s Gigspanner Big Band.

Having met over a winter’s evening dinner, they decided to form a duo to look at the traditional folk music that had influenced them throughout their different careers in music. Covid and the lockdowns slowed this process down, but now they have a new album out called Unquenching Fire and are finally out on the road touring around the country.

Their stop at the compact and friendly Ace Space was their fourth attempt to play there and some people had tickets held over from 2020. Just over 50 people gave the duo a warm welcome as they played their first song, Lady Margaret. Collected by Alan Lomax, it has been recorded many times by numerous artists. Most of the songs they sang and played are well known in the folk canon and there is always a danger of ‘do we need yet another version of this song’ or ‘there may be better versions on offer’.

However, the duo showed their musical talents, using their own distinctive vocals, arrangements and tunings to breathe new life into such classics as Dark Eyed Sailor, Lovely on the Water, Sweet Lemany and Blow the Candle Out. A personal favourite was Go Your Way which was written and performed by Bert Jansch of Pentangle, but which Miranda learnt from the singing of the brilliant Anne Briggs.

Hannah told us she loved writing tunes as gifts for people. The duo performed two, one written for Hannah’s daughter Rosa and the other for Miranda’s son Wilf. They finished the set with the title track of the album, Unquenching Fire, and featured Miranda for the first time on shruti box, which she said she learnt to play via a YouTube video. They encored with an a capella song called Occasional Song and all too soon this fine evening of music from two of the most engaging performers on the folk circuit came to an end.

Track Dogs, Fred’s House and Truckstop Honeymoon are all playing Ace Space before Christmas so check out www.acespace.org.uk for all details.