Shona and Damien both have associations with the University of Newcastle upon Tyne's Folk and Traditional Music degree course, Damien having graduated a year ago and Shona currently still studying. They've been teamed up as a performing duo for a touch over three years now, and they've gone from strength to strength since those (impressive even then) early days. Damien also maintains a continuing presence as guitarist/banjoist in that talented and now well-established young band CrossCurrent, but I'm glad he's also found the time to record Box On, his second duo album with accordionist Shona. And right from the outset it's a dynamic record, which delights the ear at first stroke and gets the feet tapping on a spirited set of jigs that's as immediately dazzling as it is a warmup for the varied menu to follow in the ensuing 49 minutes. The sequence is well managed thereafter, with sufficient variations in pace, mood and texture to maintain interest. On every single track, the musicianship of this duo positively sparkles with a gleeful combination of genuinely creative interplay and flexibility born of really listening and responding to each other. Damien's rhythmic facility is outstanding, especially on the tenor banjo, and his handling of the melodic contours is unusually well developed for a player of stringed instruments, while that's not to denigrate Shona's superbly expressive playing in the slightest for she manages to coax an impressive amount of light and shade out of her piano accordion as well as maintaining an unwavering grasp on both the rhythmic and melodic elements at one and the same time. Probably around a third of the tunes chosen are traditional, with Damien himself contributing the lion's share of the rest (and Shona three tunes out of the five then remaining); they're intelligently combined too. Each individual track clocks in at a sensible length: nothing seems foreshortened or needlessly curtailed yet no sets are prolonged beyond their usefulness, and while the tunes all adhere to a distinct sense of "arrangement" there's a nice sense of looseness about their execution too, since the musicians are allowed to stretch out and nothing feels rushed through for mere virtuoso effect as can so often be the case on albums showcasing instrumentalists. I also really appreciated the excellent recording quality, whereby the timbres of the two instruments are both faithfully reproduced and sensitively balanced. It's good too that Damien's singing is showcased on a couple of tracks, though it's a pity that one of them is to my mind a rather less than interesting choice (one of the very many As I Roved Out derivatives, the somewhat repetitive P Stands For Paddy) that doesn't really do him justice. Additionally, it's only fair that Shona and Damien should each get allocated a "solo track" too, though that tag only applies in the sense that the other duo member is absent! On Shona's wonderful "solo" rendition of Red Haired Girl, she's accompanied by Peter Tickell (guesting on fiddles), while Damien's "solo" banjo track is an extended set of Shuffles with some delectable and subtle embellishments from bass, cello, bouzouki and bodhrán courtesy of Aidan O'Kane, Rachael McShane, David Wood and Reed Ingram Weir respectively. Aaron Jones' bouzouki also crops up on a couple of tracks. All told, this invigorating release proves a very persuasive calling-card for the talents of this increasingly accomplished young duo.