What News

For his twelfth solo album - What News - and his fourth album focused exclusively on the performance of traditional songs, Alasdair Roberts has chosen a typically unusual and eclectic pair of collaborators: Amble Skuse and David McGuinness. A fresh batch of hundreds-of-years-old ballads, paired with instruments only slightly younger! Ali sings some of his sweetest / deepest vocals ever atop David McGuinness' assembled keys: an 1844 grand pianoforte, a "Mozart-style" forte piano, and a century-old Dulcitone. Amble Skuse's electronics keep the 21st century in the picture, which unfortunately, seems necessary.