Alasdair Roberts’ ‘Spoils’ album features Alasdair’s old hands from Appendix Out (Tom Crossley and Gareth Eggie) as well as free percussionist xtraordinaire Alex Nielson, noted baroque guitarist Gordon Ferries, Emily MacLaren, Niko-Matti Ahti (of Finnish free-pop duo Kiila), and David McGuinness and Alison McGillivray (both of Scotland’s Concerto Caledonia), bringing a loose and lively mixture of drums, bass, piano, flute, glockenspiel, harpsichord, harmonium, viola, synthesizer, dulcimer, psaltery, hurdy gurdy, fiddle, and of course guitars and voices. · ‘Spoils’ has a lot on deck, but it’s meted out evenly and with an intense energy, always in service of the songs, which are marked with some of Alasdair’s finest melodies. Additionally, ‘Spoils’ ingratiates new compositions in a deeply personal manner with the world of traditional music that has sunk beyond the horizon for too many of us. It is a gift to these latter days that a man like Roberts exists, to sing us back to our ancient home.