YOU would probably expect an acoustic four-piece to fill a packed pub with warmth and laughter during a night of singing and beer (and complimentary Easter eggs).

But you probably wouldn’t think the songs they’d do it with would notch up a higher body count than most death metal bands manage.

Such are the unusual pleasures of folk music. The Furrow Collective – Lucy Farrell, Rachel Newton, Emily Portman and Alasdair Roberts – are all accomplished soloists but worked together to deliver songs of ghosts, deception, murder, hanging and dangerous pigs – plus the occasional heartbroken lament.

Roberts chilled the bones with The Blantyre Explosion, about a 19th-century mining disaster in Lanarkshire, while Farrell took up the baton on Wild And Wicked Youth, in which the titular character bids farewell as the gallows loom.

Newton shone on the stark Skippin’ Barfit Through The Heather, about a gentleman’s attempt to woo a country lass, given added tension by Roberts’ highly-strung guitar and Portman’s peeping concertina. Portman herself took lead vocals on King Henry, a bizarre and grotesque tale of an animal-eating ogress.

If it sounds austere, then it wasn’t – there was joy in the incongruous cries of lines such as, "Kill him if you can," and both the group and audience dissolved into laughter when the (wildly inappropriate) Poor Old Horse was played for some birthday celebrants. And there was an impassioned debate about Radio 4’s The Archers, while the whole room followed Farrell in singing along to I’d Rather Be Tending My Sheep, a shepherd’s celebration of the simple life.

The group brought the songs to life with subtlety and harmony. Many songs were built around Roberts’ acoustic guitar, but skilful fiddle, harp, banjo and musical saw all made an essential contribution.

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