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I’ve got a soft spot for accordions. To me, there is something very old-worlde and nostalgic about them. Perhaps it’s my history of playing Beirut on high rotation for many, many months. And my penchant for wandering the streets of Eastern European towns.

So my attraction to Canadian folk noir singer Wendy McNeill’s fifth album For The Wolf, A Good Meal, replete with accordions, piano, slow waltzing tempos and McNeill’s strong and melancholy vocals, isn’t such a surprise. I love to see this kind of music played live in front of me, because the artistry and spectacle involved in playing the instruments is something you don’t get to see too often. A delicious treat.

McNeill is currently playing around Switzerland (see below for dates), ably accompanied by 24-year-old Belgian singer-songwriter Bram Vanparys, aka The Bony King Of Nowhere (such a sad, descriptive name – is that self-referential, I wonder…), who released his second album of subdued and beautiful indie folk, Eleonore, in late 2011.

Wendy McNeill + Bony King of Nowhere play @ Grabenhalle, St Gallen, Friday 20.01.12, Sud, Basel, Saturday 21.01.12, and El Lokal, ZH, Sunday 22.01.12.

For The Wolf, A Good Meal is out now on Six Shooter/Haldern Pop.

Eleonore is out now on PIAS/Cargo Records.

Related articles

• The Bony King of Nowhere (dickthespic.org)