Transforming a 70s-carpeted Clerkenwell basement into a hand-clapping, hip-jiving fiddle soiree is no easy feat – but The Urban Folk Quartet did just that last night at The Slaughtered Lamb.
Bringing the entire audience to its knees – quite literally – at the end of their set with a banjo riff that panged to the corners of the swampy, south bluegrass lands and back, the band really knew how to play the room.
Self described, ‘electro-African-dubstep-celtic-folk,’ The Urban Folk Quartet give traditional Irish folk tunes a global twist with Spanish, Turkish and bluegrass undertones creeping in.
Vampire Weekend combined with booming arm-swinging fiddle music would be the tightest description, but even that barely cuts it, due to their assertive, and indeed effective, dismissal of all genre boundaries.
Performing for the regular folk night, Pull up the Roots, at The Slaughtered Lamb, it is the bands second visit to the pub, and the audience certainly hasn’t tired of them.
Made up of ‘folkies,’ as described by guitar player, Joe Broughton, there is definitely the sense that this is a musician’s gig. But it’s not hard to appreciate the precision and beauty with which these artists play their instruments: banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins – even a triangle, which takes centre stage for an entire song – blend meticulously to create an explosion of energetic, toe-tapping beats.
Broughton, best known for his stint with The Albion Band, was the true talent, raising the tempo with his faster than light finger movements across the guitar – so fast, it looked like his hand weren’t even moving, only to be betrayed by his high-powered solos that had the whole room jumping.
The Urban Folk Quartet have lifted traditional folk from stale basements where forlorn strumming and weepy playing prevails, into an up-beat explosion of whisky-laced dancing – an exhilarating reminder wby the Irish jig will never die.
