Craig Fortnam, the creative heart of the North Sea Radio Orchestra, is the man behind Arch Garrison who are very much a pared down version of his mother ship. The lush orchestration has been stripped away to reveal a very English folk record.

Fortnam is evidently fond of the same records that Midlake’s Tim Smith has been immersing himself in, though while the American take on Fairport Convention,  Fotheringay, Mellow Candle and the like sounds bleak and wintry, this is a much sunnier sounding record.

While at times it does sail perilously close to the historical re-enactment society wind, particularly on Thames Fluvius, a medieval sounding instrumental in the Greensleeves mould, the album works best when the folksy feel is tempered with often unexpected layering of sound and use of instruments which on paper have no place on a record like this. The finest moment of the whole album comes  in The Days Don’t Feel The Same – the album’s standout track, when Fortnam’s beautifully finger picked guitar drops out to be replaced momentarily by a squelchy synthesiser which sounds like it has been sampled from a Pacman game.

Other highlights include Here’s To The End Of The Road and Stone On The Pound, both of which have something of Ray Davies in his more pastoral moments about them, while Fortnam’s vocals bring to mind Gregory Webster of indie janglers The Razorcuts, who were themselves the nearest thing the C86 generation got to authentic British folk rock.

King Of The Down will be released on Double Six Records on 22^nd February.

Arch Garrison’s Myspace is here.