Didgeridoo and mandolin lead into the medley McLeod’s Farewell/A Bridge Too Far/Afreels where the outfit’s instrumental chops are on tasteful display and then it’s back to the pages of Australian folklore for the convict lament Moreton Bay, sung by Andree Baudet (who also contributes sax and keys to the mix). Slightly up tempo compared to the versions that’d be doing the rounds of the folk clubs but you’d suspect it goes down well live which is, after all, presumably the point of the exercise.
The rhythm section of Tony Hillier (rhythm guitar), Will Kepa (bass) and Ben Hakalitz (drums, ex-Yothu Yindi) are on display in the background to Fanfare For The Common Mandolin, which ranges around the globe and then it’s back to trad. arr. territory for Lachlan Tigers and Stringybark Creek. The former’s not quite the rousing anthem you find in the trad. setting, but it works well enough and the spoken word version of the Kelly Gang’s activities on the other track isn’t your common or garden studio material. Listening, you’d suspect the intention is to provide something that’ll go down well in the merch stall at any of the big festivals. You can imagine the scenario as some festival goer scans what’s on offer, and picks up on the rather eye-catching cover: Kamerunga, hmmm. They weren’t bad. Might just buy that one....
Given that context I’m inclined to gloss over a couple of things that I didn’t quite like - the odd tempo of the intro to the concluding South Australia Suite, for example. Once you’re away from the mainstream it’s a matter of niche marketing, and that festival circuit would be a substantial niche that’s worth exploring. Much of what’s on offer here might not appeal to the purist, but if you’re after something traditional-based that’s well played by a group of fairly classy musos Kamerunga’s The Push could well be right up your alley.