Harp and a Monkey: War Stories review – humane folktronica

Folk music has supplied a welcome counter-narrative to official commemorations of the first world war centenary, offering a less militarist, more humane look at the conflict and its impact. The Lancashire trio Harp and a Money boast a WW1 historian in their ranks, Martin Purdy, who explores a variety of themes on this third album: soldiers who returned (often disabled), grief-stricken widows, a distraught postman. Half the songs are traditional or popular at the time, including Rudyard Kipling‘s Soldier Soldier and Charlie Chaplin, a riposte to the Daily Mail smearing the actor as a draft-dodger. Purdy understands language and cadence, and the trio provide an inventive backdrop of tinkling folktronica. Bold and brilliant.