Tell Tale Tusk, Royal Festival Hall, London (GB) - Jun 30, 2017

Contemporary folk, I guess you’d call this. Tale Tale Tusk are fronted by four women – Rey Yusuf vocal/percussion, Laura Inskip vocal/clarinet/guitar, Fiona Fey vocal/clarinet/guitar, Anna Lowenstein violin/vocal – backed by two men – Kai Carter guitar and Robyn Hemmings double bass. The structure of their songs, their dynamics, and often the melody, are clearly describable as in a folk tradition, maybe the harmony singing too. The instrumentation is rather unusual and so are some of the rhythms. The songs – most, if not all, self-penned – vary in pace and are often saucy in content. They included She’s Like the Swallow, Cuckoo’s Nest and Ungrateful Wench. The band are entertaining, musically very competent, really worth hearing.