Cardboard Fox are a clean-cut quartet from Bath, England whose music is, for the most part, firmly rooted in American bluegrass.
Topspin is the band's third release, preceded by their self-titled EP and the first full length album, Out of Mind, in 2016.
Only a cover version of Owl City's synth pop hit Fireflies and the quirky humour of Right Swiper hint at a wider musical palette. The latter includes the jolly refrain "You're a Scotch bonnet, you're the Wallace to my Gromit".
Of the eleven tracks, eight are original songs and there's one original instrumental (Nelly). The other cover is of a workmanlike take on Gillian Welch's Tear My Stillhouse Down.
Lead vocals are evenly split between twin sisters Charlotte and Laura Carrivick who also play acoustic guitar and fiddle respectively. These two also perform as a duo as, you guessed it, Carrivick Sisters.
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For Cardboard Fox the siblings are backed by Joe Tozer (mandolin) and John Breese (double bass) who help them maintain a pure and wholesome perspective on the world.
'Topspin' reflects a world with a stable and reliable climate with few instances of inclement weather. In Empty Skies we catch a glimpse of "dark clouds in the rear view" and "winter winds chill the bones" in Ghosts but such details only throw into relief the summery breezes and blue sky thinking which reflect the overall brightness of the outlook.
Cardboard Fox's website
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