A six piece from the north-west of England, Odd at Ease's first full length recording reveals them to be steeped in the folk music of their homeland. The CD consists mostly of original compositions alongside three traditional tunes. Acoustic guitar and mandolin are the dominant sounds.
Richard Carver and Ian Cleverdon share lead vocal duties throughout the majority of the album and both have pleasant, if not particularly distinctive folk voices. The female backing vocals add some depth to the arrangements, but when Anna Scarisbrick comes to take lead vocals on "Playing The Game" her voice has trouble handling the song's rather diverse melody.
The playing is competent but not particularly attention grabbing and while some of the songs have hooks that keep the listener's attention for their duration I haven't found myself humming many of these tunes after the CD ends.
It can be difficult to translate the dynamics of a folk band to a recording, and it may be that Odd at Ease have fallen foul of this like many a band before them. The quality of independent recordings has risen markedly in recent years, but unfortunately this release does not keep pace.
