West Yorkshire’s David Thomas Broughton offers traditional English folk music with a twist. With vocal stylings reminiscent of Jake Thackray, albeit with none of the humour, Broughton combines delicate acoustic guitar licks with found sounds and loops. The lyrics are dark and brooding, with the stripped-back nature of the tracks giving them their raw power. Broughton tours extensively, often handing out free gigs, and it is in this arena that he really comes into his own. Jerking about robotically, he uses objects among the crowd, from teaspoons to chair legs, to recreate the found sounds of his recordings, making every perfomance unique.
He plays Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on 23 September.
File under: Jake Thackray, Josh T Pearson, Chad VanGaalen
Conal Dougan