Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker (NB Venue Change)

Date/Time Sun 10 Mar 2013 7:45 PM

Price


Those who have been following the folk revival movement will already know about Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker. Both classically trained, Josienne’s voice and style has been compared to June Tabor, and Ben’s vintage guitar and mandolin lends the perfect musical tact. Leading lights of the emerging folk scene, reviewers for the NME were already talking about their ‘exceptional talent’ before they won the 2012 Isambard Folk Award and the wider world started to take notice.

Josienne was raised in Sussex. While at university in London she began to perform regularly on the circuit, honing her song writing talent. The result is sincere and succinct songwriting, distilled through traditional folk and executed with skill and dexterity. When Josienne released her debut album, One Light Is Gone, in late 2010, reviewers made comparisons to Sandy Denny.

For Folk’s Sake said: Josienne’s songs are traditional and sound like they could be from the sixties or seventies, or long, long before – which really means they are classic and absolutely means you should listen to them. Josienne’s voice, which is mesmerising live, is similarly hypnotic on this album, it’s full of texture and emotion but never falters and never sounds frail.

Ben’s guitar is all over that first album, and creatively, they are now inseparable. Described by fellow musicians as chronically modest as well as a musician that you are in awe of, Ben Walker studied classical guitar and played electric before finally coming home to fingerstyle, performing on both steel and nylon string acoustic guitar, and mandolin. Influenced by the likes of Martin Simpson, Bert Jansch, Pierre Bensusan and Richard Thompson, Ben’s playing and arrangement add magic to Josienne’s already sculpted sound.