For my money, Spiro are one of the most exciting acts I've heard in a very long time. The arrangements are genuinely fresh and new, and the musicianship is simply stunning (all the tracks were recorded live with no overdubs!) What baffles me is that apparently they're finding it quite hard to get gigs. Could it be that they're a purely instrumental outfit who don't do songs?


And yes, virtually everything on there is based on trad tunes - quite a bit of Playford and a load of 3/2 NW hornpipes.