Track Of The Day: The Black Smock Band – I Wish

Billed as “A band of merry mischief making folk lovers that enjoy making music, drinking real ale and getting the audience to sing louder than the band,” London based folkies The Black Smock Band – singer Dan Cox, violinist Paul Burgess, guitarist Andy Bannister and multi-instrumentalist John Bryden – have been playing occasional folk feasts, celidahs and friends’ parties since 2010.

They have also recorded a mix of traditional English music and original tunes. The haunting melancholy of I Wish gives a good idea of what they do, and the video for it – their first, filmed partly on the old Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle – underlines such universal themes of the passing of time and regret.

The Black Smock Band play as part of the Brighton Fringe’s Something Wholly Inappropriate on Saturday 12 May at The Horse & Groom. Further details of the event can be found here. More on The Black Smock Band is here.