Harbottle and Jonas - The Sea is my Brother

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Folk from Devon

Harbottle and Jonas are a husband and wife duo based out of Totnes in Devon and only a few miles from the sea.  So it is not hard to see the inspiration behind their new album ‘The Sea is my Brother’ which bar one track are all stories related to the maritime life. This, their fourth album, is a follow-up to their acclaimed 2017 album ‘Anna is a Dancer’ and earlier albums ‘Cutthorpe Hill’ and ‘We shall Overcome’.

The style is very traditional sounding Folk very much based on the vocals being the lead instrument if you like. As it is mostly a collection of stories, and mostly self written too, it is important that the lyrics come across which they succeeded with very well. But they ably accompanied by a range of instruments and  ‘Elizabeth Prettejohn’ is an upbeat totally instrumental number to go alongside ‘Hall Sands’ charting the demise of the small fishing village.

A lot of the story are very compelling and quite poignant from ‘Fr.Thomas Byles’ being the tale of somebody lost on the Titanic to the tragic tale of ‘Saved Alone’ the final track on the album detailing a family lost on board the SS Ville de Havre back in 1873. There are more modern tragedies recounted too included ‘Lost to the Sea’ based on the cockle pickers that were lost in Morecambe Bay.

But it is not all a tale of woe, while those tracks have some raw emotion there is also ‘Liverpool City’ which almost has  a sea shanty style jauntiness to it and the fun and upbeat track ‘The Saucy sailor Boy’. Whilst the title track details the bond people have with the sea. It is an album that keeps you listening and to be honest it is not often you get an album that doubles up as a mini history lesson too. Certainly one that Folk fans should add to their collection this year, I know I am going out to buy myself a copy.

Review by Jon Cooper 

Check Out! the Video for 'The North Sea Ground' Below...