Lau, Bellowhead, Spiers & Boden, Angel Brothers - besides being folk bands, what these rogue's gallery has in common is that they're all signed to Derby-based folk label Navigator Records. What Navigator are into is proper, serious folk, which always runs a certain risk of coming across as excessively studious or stale. More than many of the label's denizens, Angel Brothers explore on their self-titled album more of a world music feel, taking in some African influences as well as owing some debt to Ennio Morricone's work in parts, as on "Django's Caravan", presumably named after Corbucci's 1966 cult spaghetti western.What makes Angel Brothers a little difficult to get into is the fact that it opens with two folk behemoths - "Tongues of Fire" and "Ghosts" are well over seven and eight minutes long respectively, and their slowly unraveling appeals will frustrate and bore some listeners, but probably not the kind of listeners who have already found an appreciation for this kind of restrained, sober folk. Angel Brothers aren't flashy or absorbed by spectacle. Like Bellowhead they are content to allow songs to be dominated by delicate acoustic guitar and lengthy English fiddle passages, which on tracks like "Empty Chair" can lend the sound a laid-back, gentle and pastoral feel. There's the expected earthy sound here too - indeed, testament to the record's slightly unpolished and natural feel, the final track ends with some modest overheard dialogue - "yeah, that was a good one".Whilst Angel Brothers do a good job of making sure that the disparate types of roots music approached gel together into a fairly cohesive whole, it's those two longer tracks which feel like the core of the album, especially opener "Tongues of Fire". Its gradual build is admirable, creating a tense atmosphere which somehow conjures for me at least the mystique and vastness of the desert, aided by some ominous, exotic-sounding strings. Angel Brothers are a bit studious, and this does feel like a serious, considered folk record. But that's not to say that only folk purists will enjoy it - it is certainly, for example, more inviting than Jon Boden's recent solo album, despite its instrumental nature. 60%Angel Brothers official site