The quality we've come to expect is present, including expansive, explanatory liner notes that complement the wonderful music.

This release came as a surprise, with details emerging mere days before it hit the streets. That could indicate an afterthought or something thrown together, but Big Big Train don't do things by halves, and the quality we've come to expect is present, including expansive, explanatory liner notes that complement the wonderful music.

However, it's a stretch to call this a new album, as it features material previously heard but refashioned, a few new songs and bits where themes used on earlier tracks are prevalent. Don't mistake that as a criticism, as fans will welcome this additional material which draws a line under a particular chapter in the band's history. To paraphrase their website, "(This) is the last album in a cycle of releases started in 2009. Our writing over this period focused on the English landscape, the people that work on the land and their folklore stories. We'll be moving on to different subjects as we play shows outside of England. But we had a few stories left to tell and wanted to bring them together here".

The title track is typical Big Big Train, although the cognoscenti will recognise some themes and refrains from older songs. 'Haymaking' is new, it's a jaunty, perky, Folky instrumental based on Rachel Hall's violin, and is followed by 'Skylon', a track which amazingly missed out on inclusion on both the preceding two albums. It's a story, seen through the eyes of a child, about an exhibit at London's post-war Festival Of Britain – full of the usual pathos, they paint pictures in your mind.

'London Stone' is a short acoustic instrumental that was destined as an intro to 'London Plane' on the 'Folklore' album but had to be re-recorded due to an out of tune guitar. 'The Passing Widow' is yet another poignant story, this time about the inspirational Rosie Swale Pope MBE, who ran around the world after losing her husband to cancer. My favourite number is 'The Leaden Stour' which, like the river of its title, runs through various terrains, and sees the welcome return of brass to the scene during its up-tempo section. 'Terra Australis Incognita' is a short instrumental development of a track from the previous album, so is already familiar.

The remainder of the album is the bringing together of 'Brooklands' and 'London Plane' tracks previously spread across the preceding albums.

Gary Marshall