Danny and the Champions of the World - Streets of Our Time

Either we’ve been caught on a soppy day, or Danny and The Champions of the World make genuinely affecting country-folk. Australian-born, south London living, Danny George Wilson is joined by a rotating cast of musicians – including Jack Penate and Hannah-Lou – on nine folky tales of life’s simple pleasures, like following a river bend (Follow The River) or simply falling for another (Streets of Time). And it takes quite a talent to make us mourn the passing of a rusty van, but in album opener Henry The Van we think our heart might have actually fluttered when he sang ‘Henry, is this the end of the road?’ Slap us if we do that again. Yeah, so it’s twee in places and the lyrics can, at times, sound a bit paint-by-numbers, but that’s what gives it an off-the-cuff feel, like the songs were penned at a campfire sing-a-long. Tender stuff. [Anna Docherty]