London-born Sam Lee has cut a singular path through British folk, as promoter of the Magpie's Nest club, as academic and as performer. This debut gathers obscurities from the folk canon (Lee is an avid collector) and sets them to enterprising arrangements of fiddle, trumpet, jew's harp and the odd birdsong sample. The atmosphere is austere, at times ghostly, full of drones and odd whirrs of percussion, with Lee's easy baritone vocals to the fore. The songs are mostly of false love (including a treacherous water sprite), and while its downbeat, trancelike mood is unwavering, the album has a gentle, insistent power.