Four stars There has been a trend in recent times for musicians and bands to play a significant album from their history in its entirety in its original running order on an important anniversary.

Malinky are not nearly so presumptuous as to present their new release, Far Better Days, in this faithful, reverent style but as each song from the album projected its strong character, the thought did occur that they might be called upon to do so at some point in the future.

Conventional wisdom has it that there are three fine voices in the group, and as Fiona Hunter continues to develop in stature, "fine" might be understating the case.

There are, really, four voices, however, because while Mike Vass does lend vocal support alongside Hunter, Steve Byrne and Mark Dunlop in occasional choruses, his instrumental "voice" can be almost

as important to a song's arrangement as the song itself.

Hunter's singing of The Brisk Young Lad, a lyric she delivers with the kind of joyful reportage that puts her right at the heart of the narrative, is given added momentum by Vass's telling fiddle. Similarly, Dunlop's charmingly boyish take on The Fairy King's Courtship strides along all the more vitally for Vass's deftly turned tenor guitar accompaniment.

The songs and their settings, be they atmospheric or bouncing with considered energy, are all of a piece and Byrne and Hunter's revisiting of Pad The Road Wi' Me, from the group's previous album,

Flower & Iron, had a confidence and added maturity of a team that has grown in understanding in the seven years since that recording.

Here's to the next one.