So it is with Thing Of The Past, on which Vetiver gather up delicate little folksy numbers that might otherwise have gathered dust in forgotten corners of New England thrift stores until they were lost forever.

In covering the twelve tracks represented here, Vetiver make two things clear beyond all doubt: they're about as nu folk as the Afghan coat your granny bought in 1972, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Things Of The Past's love letter to the North American folk music of the late 1960s and early 1970s has no pretensions, no agenda, and nothing more on its (slightly spaced) mind than the dreamy days of summer when half a generation tuned in and dropped out.

The songs are innocent, gentle and surprisingly timeless, a snapshot of the past lining up for Andy Cabic to catalogue. Presenting themselves fully formed and in little need of updating or modernising, he simply needs to dust them down and present them at court.

Some are so suited to being covered by Vetiver that you can't help but wonder whether he might have made them up, such as the fragile Sleep A Million Years. Originally recorded by Kathy Heiderman, a singer so obscure she doesn't seem to exist outside of interviews with Cabic, her music could have been conjured up by a mischievous folk nymph just so that, 40 years later, it was there to be covered with help from Vashti Bunyan.

While all the songs are in essence little more than Andy Cabic's favourites, there's enough of a mix to prevent the album sinking into self-indulgence. From the raw blues of Hawkind's Hurry On Sundown, the country riffs of Loudon Wainwight III's The Swimming Song, there's always a sense that Cabic is genuinely hoping to educate his audience, to push their boundaries just that little bit further than they might have gone without him.

More than anything else, there's a sense of contentment and pleasure that purveys the Things Of The Past that could have been lifted from the Summer of Love itself. When Cabic duets with Michael Hurley on that singer's Blue Driver, it's an act of hero worship and devotion, a recognition and celebration of the music that laid the foundations for his own career.

The complete collection covers artists most of Vetiver's fans will have heard of - Hawkwind, Loudon Wainwirght III, Townes Van Zandt (Standin'), Bobby Charles (I Must Be In A Good Place Now); artists others have covered before, such as Bowie favourite Biff Rose and Derroll Adams, whose Roll On Babe is better known for the cover by Ronnie Lane; and some, such as Heiderman, he's unearthed himself.

More personal than a Back To Mine, a folk version of a DJ Kicks, it's a labour of love than works wonderfully, a genuinely worthy addition to the Vertiver canon.

share:  Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more

Mercury Prize 2009 nominees