The new folk movement that we are in the throes of at the moment is very much something to be taken seriously as an important modern genre.
Seth Lakeman is not part of it. He is way too smooth. The video to previous single Lady of the Sea, his first for his new major label, sees him all rippling muscles and playing his fiddle as rain pours down upon his brooding physique. He is marketed too expertly to be completely credible, and is far too good looking to join the gnarled soldiers of the folk revolution like King Creosote and James Yorkston.
Nevertheless, his second album Kitty Jay was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2005. With a bit less polished production, The White Hare, from its follow-up, Freedom Fields, would be an intriguing listen. As it is, it sounds too much like '90s quasi-folk acts like Texas or The Cranberries, despite having a pleasant little melody at its heart. In short, Lakeman needs to work on his taste and sensibilities in the studio so his work doesn't sound quite so cheesy.
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